Last Sacrifice
by rawrful-lion
Summary: Breaking out of jail? No sweat. Going out to find your best friends half-sibling with your ex who claims his love has faded? That sucks. Doing so without the boyfriend who helped you through it all? Kill me now.
1. Compelling Plans

**Okay, I know everyone is doing this but I figured I might as well try my hand at this.  
****I'd love if you told my weither or not this fanfic is crap so I don't embarrass myself further.  
But I'd also love if you told me how amazing I was (my writing skills) so that I would continue.  
Reviews make my life and ideas keep stories going so I'm sure you'd love to give me both xD.  
Anyways, if you're going to criticize, make sure it is constructive.  
Just mean criticism wont actually help anything, just lower my confidence D:  
On with the story...**

**Chapter 1  
Compelling Plans**

* * *

"I thought I told them I didn't want to see you," I muttered from my corner in my cell. I was _not _impressed with him, or anyone else right now for that matter. Why is it that a girl who's been wrongly accused of murder, rejected by her first love and have the weight of execution on her shoulders not get the right to alone time to mull in self pity? Honestly, the lack of consideration in these people is appalling.

"Well, you did, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to get down here left to my own devices. Regardless of what you told whoever," Adrian answered with his signature smug smirk.

I rolled my eyes, still not budging from my corner spot even with Adrian's arms hanging through the bars, looking like a kid in a pet store doing his best to try and pet the dog that was asleep on the other side, just out of his reach. Or the fact that my butt was getting numb. "And, oh mighty god, what are those devices? Did you get them drunk?" I, personally, was surprised he wasn't drunk himself.

He gave a soft chuckle, letting his arms droop casually by his side, acting like he did not just get rejected. "My little Dhampir, I compelled them of course. In case you've forgotten, your little Princess isn't the only one with awesome powers."

I gave him a small smile. _Of course._ Something about the fact that the guards could be compelled demanded to hide out in my brain for later contemplation. "Yeah, well why didn't you wait for when I was asleep? It's just as effective."

He sighed. "Only when you're sleeping. Which you never seem to do anymore." He was right. I'd made sure not to sleep the night before. Or the day. Or during any other obvious times to sleep. I only slept, or napped, at random times and for only as long as I needed. And when I did happen to slip into one of his dreams, I made sure to work my butt to wake up right away. I really didn't want to talk to anyone. Call me stupid for not wanting the small comfort of a familiar face but really, if I didn't talk to anyone I wouldn't be tempted to yell at them, demanding why I wasn't already running free. Or fall into their arms, bursting with tears complaining about how unfair the world really is… Or tell them about the dirty secret scribbled on a note inside my pocket.

"Whatever Adrian. What is it that you wanted to say anyways? What would make you go through all the trouble to break law, just for me? A glimpse of my beautiful face or a taste of my brilliant humour?" Just because Rose Hathaway was in a cell didn't mean she left her nature outside the prison. Though the nature sitting on the other side of the cell in a little toilet bowl could use a trip out there. Though it flushed, it still reeked. It didn't help with her already non-existent appetite.

"Ah, both, my dear. You don't know how empty my life is without you. It's not a bright. Not as fun. And no where near as liveable. I don't know how much longer I can stand seeing you in a cell like this, much less not seeing you at all." His eyes shined with a sadness I couldn't explain.

"And how do you think it is for me? I'm the one about to executed." He flinched. "Unless you can compel the court out of that too." And with that, an idea clicked into my head. "Wait, you said you compelled the guards to let you see me right?" He nodded slowly. I suddenly lost all annoyance at his arrival. "Then do you think you could compel them to let me _out?_"

**Sorry it's extremely short. It always seems longer on Word...  
But the other chapters will be longer. I just figured the ending was so...dramatic. So I left it :D  
Please review. Please. And I'd love if anyone gave me some ideas because, really, I only have so many.  
Anyone excited for the 3rd Hunger Games, Mockingjay, to come out? I am.  
****  
xo Darla**


	2. Going Solo

**Whoo, second chapter today.  
****I'm really hoping to go at a steady pase, at least one chapter every other day?  
Still no reviews yet. I'd looooove to get some :D  
Oh, and just so you guys are aware, this probably won't have too much of Adrian in the majority of the story and there will be a lot more Dimitri.  
I love Dimitri way more than Adrian :D**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead. I do not own any of her characters.**

* * *

His eyes widened in shock at my absurd idea but then a spark of determination flared. He quickly nodded just as we heard the thumping of hurried footsteps running down the stairs. We looked at each other with panic and I leaped up to quickly give him a hug. Of course, with Adrian a hug turned into a quick kiss which in turn turned into a deep, tickle your toes kiss. I leaned into him, regretting all the times I had kept him away. I had forgotten how nice his lips felt against mine, the way his feel of his hands in my hair set me on fire. The sudden entrance of 11 fully armed Guardians broke us apart.

I looked over, giving a full Rose Hathaway smile. It got me off the hook for many things, especially when I only caused minor trouble. The Guardians eased from their offensive stances but the Head, Guardian whats-his-face, still had to throw his comment in. "We were aware that you wanted no visitors." He didn't seem impressed with the fact that one of my friends, unwanted, had slipped through the throng of Guardians.

I shrugged. "Changed my mind."

Whats-his-face stepped forward, taking a firm grip around Adrian's arm. "Lord Ivashkov, you are aware that you are _not_ permitted down in the dungeons without at least two Guardians with you. And then, of course, you need permission?" He had his Guardian mask on but you could detect the annoyance in his voice.

"Yes, sir. Just wanted to say hi to my _harmless_ and _innocent _girlfriend. I'll leave now though, if it makes you feel better." Adrian fixed WHF with a stare and smile. "Just allow me to leave without any fuss and let me come down whenever. And I don't need any Guardians with me. I'm perfectly safe with her." The Guardian nodded and turned, compulsion working, still holding Adrian, and started up the stairs, the others flanking him. "Sleep, my Little Dhampir. Sleep," Adrian yelled back at me, just as he was turning the corner.

I sat back down, leaning against the wall and letting out a loud sigh. After, what, three, four days of non-stop worry and my insufferable thoughts I was already getting out. Or at least had a plan to. I felt a little disappointed in out prison system. Mind you, no one could actually hold Rose Hathaway against her will. Or anyone else she wanted. The thought of Victor made my desire to get out that much more.

But now I had to wait. Oh, my favourite. I let my eyes close and felt the fatigue I'd been resisting take over, dragging me into a sleep filled with cold pictures of Dimitri's face mixed in with the old ones that made me fall in love with him all over again. I wanted to reach out and touch them, have his warm fingers caress mine. Oh the people I would kill for that touch… Suddenly, I was beside a cute little cottage in the forest, dressed in a light sundress that could become easily see-through if I was to be thrown into the small lake not 10 meters away. I resisted the urge to pull out and instead I looked around for Adrian. No dream I put myself in would have such a low cut V-neck. I may dress with confidence but not like Alice in Wonderland gone slut.

"Ah, good. You actually slept. Don't tell me you're going to be leaving early again? We have plenty to talk about." I spun around at the sound of his voice to see him sitting on a little swing on the cottages front porch. I walked over, another swing suddenly appearing beside him, and sat down, lightly pumping my legs.

"Nah, I think I'll stay. I much prefer this setting over the last. Really, Adrian, a strip club? You shouldn't have been surprised when I took one look at the pole, my outfit and woke up." I shook my head playfully and allowed him to intertwine my fingers with his. Hands that had just been yearning for Dimitri's.

He chuckled. "That was suppose to be a fun getaway night. It's too bad really. I was more than happy to take your place on the stage if you had wanted." I rolled my eyes. "Anyways," his voice was serious, "back to the business of getting you out of jail. If I get Lissa to help, we can probably compel your ass out of there. Then, we need to have someone waiting in a car to drive you away before anyone notices that all the Guardians are playing pat-a-cake and letting a very dangerous murderer escape. And then… well, Abe suggested going to Russia. Said you had some people there that knew you?"

I so didn't want to go to Russia. Not after what happened last time I was there. And besides, I had plans to make of my own. Plans that involved staying far away from Russia if I could help it. I shook my head. "No, Adrian. I have a sort of… mission that I have to do once I get out. A mission from Tatiana." I told him about the note from Ambrose, since I was no longer in _my_ clothers, and how once we found Lissa's brother or sister or whatever she'd be able to take her spot on the royal council. The Queen's comment about how there had to be at least two members of the family to vote stuck with me since they had annoyed the crap out of me.

He nodded, surprised and excited with this news. "At least we won't be sitting around waiting for you to get caught again," he said with a smile. "It's going to be an adventure Rose. You and me and… who else do you want going with you on your runaway trip?"

I hadn't thought about that but now that he brought it up to attention… "You can't come. Neither can Lissa. I can't put you guys in that danger. And… I can't ruin Eddie more than I already have." My voice faded as I realized how little I could actually use of the people I depended on most. I could, of course, go solo. That was the smartest, the safest plan. "I have to go alone," I whispered. Before he could voice any objections though, I placed a hand on his cheek. "I have to. I can't force a fugitive life on any of you. I love you all too much for that. You know I'd never be able to live with myself if I let one of you, never mind all of you, come along. I'll be fine." I smiled reassuringly, trying to convince myself along the way.

He shook his head. "No, Rose, I want to come with you. There's no "forcing" about it. I want to be with you. Every step of the way. I want to help you."

"Adrian," my voice turning into a growl, "no." Didn't he understand the fact that if he left, his life forever after would be that as a fugitive? Not only would following me require that but he would become one. An accomplice to the Queen's murderer.

"Why not, Rose? And don't give me any of that "protecting" shit, okay? I can hold my ground."

"I. Am. Not. Taking. You. With. Me. Okay, Adrian? You're going to stay here and be a good Ivashkov, mourning the death of your aunt."

"I won't let you go alone. I won't." And with those words, the dream started to fade. I opened my eyes to the stone ceiling of my cell, sighing. What was I going to do about him?

**Action shall start soon.  
I promise. Just had to get the foundation going. **


	3. Compromise

**First off, that you all for the lovely reviews you sent me. They really made me want to keep going.  
Second, I know this is short but I'm planning on putting up another chapter later today and I have a thing with perfect endings :D  
The next one will be longer, I promise. The action and tension I know you are waiting for shall surface.****  
**

* * *

I looked up, feeling the presence of Lissa coming closer. She was coming, with an entourage of Christian, Adrian, Eddie and surprisingly, Dimitri. I'd finally given the Guardians the go ahead to let them down and the moment Lissa heard she flew down faster that a bat who's cave has been attacked.

She hadn't been to happy about the fact that I didn't want to see her before but all that quickly disappeared the moment she saw my face and came screaming down to give me an awkward hug through the bars. "Oh my god, oh my god. Rose, I've missed you." She looked on the verge of tears until Dimitri put his hand on her shoulder, sending a jolt of jealousy down my spine, curling my toes. He hadn't touched me with any sort of affection since _I _had saved him.

"Lissa, it's okay. I've missed you too." I looked at Adrian accusingly. I knew what he was planning.

"Rose, you _have _to take me with you. I refuse to be left behind again."

Through the bond I knew she was talking about the plan. "No, Lissa. I can't condemn you like that. You're going to stay here like a good little princess." I looked at Eddie, who had a pleading look in his eyes. "And, no, I'm not taking you either. I've already screwed your reputation over enough without having you be an accomplice to the all-powerful assassin." He nodded, not happy about it, but he understood. "I can't take any of you. As much as it pains me, I'm gonna have to go alone."

She shook her head wildly. "No! You're going out on my behalf, to do something that concerns me. I can't let you do that without me." Adrian obviously informed everyone on the note. Guess I forgot to mention that fact that I wasn't suppose to tell many people…

"And I'm, er, your best friend." I was about to say Guardian but there was no chance of that now.

We argued a bit more, Lissa claiming that even if she couldn't go, she wouldn't allow me to go alone. I was about to attempt slapping some sense into her when Dimitri spoke up. "I'll go with her. I've got nothing left to lose anyways." Joy spread in my chest, butterflies that made my heart beat faster.

Lissa exclaimed happily, "Really? You'd go with Rose?"

The butterflies shrivelled up and died, becoming a weight at the bottom of my stomach with his next words, "Yes, Princess, if it makes sure you're happy and safe, I will make sure Rose stays safe and help her on her mission."

Something about how he stepped up for me reminded me of the way he did so when he first became my mentor. Except this time, I was filled with a dread so dark I felt I might pass out. I had no idea how long I was going to have to spend time with him and as much as I loved looking at his face, being in his presence, all the times I dreamed about so much alone time with him, it was just going to be pure torture knowing I couldn't be with him in the style I liked. There would be no secret kisses, no accidently on purpose touches. Nothing. Only a cool air and a heart breaking stare.

"You don't have to," I said quickly, finally finding my voice in all the confusion of my thoughts. "I'm more than happy to go alone."

"Rose, you need someone to help you."

Before I could make an argument against it, the voice I had least been expecting to agree with Dimitri spoke. "No, he's right. As much as I hate the thought of you being away from me and being with him," Adrian's voice was full of disgust, like Dimitri was some disease, "he'd be a great asset. He's strong, he's smart and he's got connections. He'll keep you safe where I cannot." He gave me a wicked smile. "Unless you've changed your mind about taking me with you…?"

I slumped with defeat. These guys looked dead set on not letting me go alone. And I was dead set on not letting them come with me. I guess this was the full meaning of compromise. And it sucked. FML.


	4. Impending Doom

**Second update today. Hope you're all happy :D  
You finally get some action and no more annoying jail scenes. Well, a bit but no more from now on.  
This chapter is still a bit shorter than I want the others to be but I can't seem to get past places that seem like perfect chapter endings.  
Im getting better though xD  
Enjoy! **

* * *

1. Lissa and Adrian would compel the Guardians to hand over my keys and then sit doing nothing, remembering nothing.

I felt the warmth and joy of spirit flowing through the bond, confirming that both she and Adrian were indeed on their way to let out. I slipped into her head, watching as she told the man to give her the keys for my cell. He obliged with no resistance. You'd think that the Royal Court jail would have better immunity to compulsion. Mind you, the "high security" one where Victor was at didn't have such great immunity either. I came back into my head as I heard the shuffling of steps down the stairs and positioned myself to be let out as the key slid into the lock. My heart pumping fast, I pushed open the door as soon as I heard the lock click open.

Lissa engulfed me in a bone-crunching hug, surprising me with her strength. "Oh, thank you, Liss, thank you."

"Ahem. I believe I helped in this break out," Adrian coughed, a smile on his face that absolutely demanded to be kissed. I ran up to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and gave him a quick, but passionate, kiss. I pulled back, breathing heavy.

"Come on. I really can't care enough to stay here any longer."

2. Dimitri would be waiting for me in a car, ready to leave as soon as I jumped in. There would be no alarms. No one would know I was gone until someone went to go give me breakfast.

We all ran to the entrance, Adrian and Lissa on my heels. The other Guardians along the way were staring blank eyed at the wall with no emotion as their highest security criminal escaped past them. I felt a twinge of guilt as I remembered that these guys were suppose to be on my side, to protect others, and here I was, manipulating them. I shook it off as I ran through the doors. I was innocent and didn't deserve to be locked away.

The warm night (morning for humans) breeze was unfamiliar on my skin as I looked around for anyone on look out. I felt a quick shot of panic as I saw two Guardians looking straight at us. "Relax, I compelled them earlier," Adrian reassured but I still felt uneasy. Following his gesture for me to move it, I noticed a black SUV idling by the curb, ready to go. Excitement welled up in me as I thought of the weeks, months, ahead of me. Alone with Dimitri. _It could be worse_, I reasoned with myself, _you could be alone…_ Actually, I think I'd rather be alone than spend all that time with an ex lover.

I started towards it, still feeling as if the eyes staring at us were taking in more than they should. I heard the quick thumping of feet, heavy feet, and turned just in time to block a pouncing Guardian. Adrian yelled, "Sorry! The sun must have weakened my hold." I waved him off. There were many Guardians protecting the place. It only made sense that with all that spirit they were using that they'd be feeling weak as it was, even without the added sunlight. I grunted, kneeing the man in the stomach. He moaned slightly, leaning forward. Using that opening, I kicked the side of his head with enough force to knock him out but not kill him. Turning on my heel, I faced the other, this one a female with cropped short brown hair. Not waiting for her move, I attempted a quick punch that she blocked, ramming her elbow into my chest. I let out an annoyed yell. That blow _hurt_. Bringing in some of the darkness that Lissa had created with her use of spirit, I slipped forward, bringing my foot in contact with her knee causing her to yelp in pain and she fell back onto her butt clutching the injured part.

I yelled at Lissa and Adrian to go inside and sprinted towards the car, not even looking back to see if the Guardian was mobile again yet. As I wrapped my hand around the bar of the door, I glimpsed back and saw reinforcements coming. Damn. And here I was hoping to escape unknowingly. I swiftly opened the door and jumped in, the car already moving before the door even closed.

3. Go to Russia and hide out until the escape dies down a bit.

Great. More planes. How many times in the past year had I been on them? Too many to count. But it was much better than driving all the way to Russia. Even with the impending possibility of killer headaches with no ibuprofen in the form of Lissa.

Lissa had purchased us tickets, not first class (which is a first. We went through a long lecture about blending in before she gave), to Russia where we would drive… "Hey, Comrade, where are we going once we land?"

"My family's house of course," he said in a voice that made me feel suddenly stupid. Of course he'd want to see them but didn't he understand that I didn't? I'm not too sure I'm ready, or even want to, deal with a family who just finds out that their son is, indeed, alive and not strigoi.

"You sure you know what you'll be walking into?" I slipped my carry-on back onto my back as it came through the x-ray things to make sure I wasn't carrying any bombs with me.

"I want to see them. Dying made me realize the importance of family." Oh, but it didn't make you realize the importance of _me?_

"They think you're dead. A strigoi"

That made his head snap to attention, attention directed at me. "_What?_ They never tell the family that unless they're important or in direct knowledge. They always just tell them the persons dead. If they tell them at all."

Oh snap. How'd you get yourself into this one Rose? "I, uh, told them. I was passing through and since nobody had informed them…"

He closed his eyes for a moment, looking like he was literally thinking about ripping my head off and throwing it across the airport. He breathed deeply and opened his eyes again. "Thank you, Roza. I'm glad that you took the liberty in telling my family the truth. Too bad you did though. I'm kind of scared I'll get stake the moment I walk through the door now." The corner of his mouth twitched, probably from the image of all his sisters charging at him.

I would have laughed at his comment about stakage but something prior to that still held my attention. I growled, "Don't call me that. Don't say it unless you mean it."

His expression turned from almost happy to confusion, "What…?" The expression hardened as he realized what I was talking about. "Oh. Sorry."

The moment the word "Roza" rolled off his tongue, it made my heart squeeze and my tear ducts tingle at the same time. Happiness and sadness combined. It made me angry at how much he still controlled me even after all the pain he had put me through. I nodded, moving into the line for the plane.

**Go on... click that little blue writing below... you know you want to...**

**~Darla**


	5. I'll Push

**Woo hoo, another chapter up!  
I'm finding it hard to stop writing now that the juices are running :D  
Anyways, I'm proud to say that I didn't cut it off because of a perfect ending or because I was rushed. I cut it off because it was getting too long...  
It'll continue in the next chapter though.  
And just in case you forgot, the numbers (first and 3rd line) are a continuation of the list Rose started in the last chapter.  
Enjoy!**

* * *

4. Call Sydney, threaten her into secrecy and then get all the information we can get on Lissa's half-sib.

Scratch that.

4. Survive drive with Dimitri to Baia.

Have you ever realized how thick tension is? It's practically palpable. I rolled down the window, feeling like I was going to suffocate from it. The air felt cool, a nice change to the increasing heat of nerves inside myself. I so badly just wanted to reach out and hold that hand sitting on the gearshift. He didn't need to have it there. I bet he was tempting me, testing out my self control. (Or maybe I was just paranoid...) All that was ahead of us was highway. Lots and lots of highway. This was almost the exact same as when I took this road with Sydney. Minus the tension, constant blabber and apparently awesome car. In fact, it was dead silent in the car. Painfully so. And all we had was a crapped out Volkswagen that we bought last minute after deciding it wasn't smart to rent. It was nice but I was actually kind of surprised it had taken us so far without whimpering and rolling to a stop. Dimitri claimed that it was in perfect condition for the drive out. He said nothing about afterwards.

I sighed, dreading the awaiting Belikov family. I still felt like they were the closest to a family I had but that was because, well, because to them I was Dimitri's "widow". What would they do after they found out that the heartbreaking news about their son was wrong, though true at the time, and that he wasn't as in love with me as they'd thought, though that was as true as it was at the time? I was almost willing to just go back to jail and serve an execution then deal with what was ahead. Almost.

"Stop sighing. That's the fifth time in ten minutes. What's there to be all sad about? You're out of jail."

"Yeah, as a fugitive." And I'm out of jail with _you_. Which both makes me both extremely happy and pissed off at the same time. You have no idea. "About to see you're family. I didn't leave on very good terms with your sister either." I sighed again. I'd forgotten about how she might still hate me. Hopefully she'd asked her sister the name of her babies father.

He didn't respond to my first couple comments instead asking, "Which one?"

"Viktoria."

He let out a soft laugh. "The only way you can leave is if you leave on bad terms with her. She'll make you stay if you don't"

It was almost as if we had gone back in time with the easy conversation rolling between us. "Huh. Guess I should thank Abe for supplying the perfect way to get on bad terms with her."

He stiffened at the name of my father. A father I hadn't seen since the trail… "What did Abe do?"

"You know, first he threatened me to get me to leave and then he made a deal with me once he realized that Rose Hathaway isn't easily threatened. Get Viktoria out of the blood whore-to-be house in exchange for me leaving. I took it."

His face crumpled in pain. "Viktoria? Blood whore?" he stammered.

I nodded, adding quickly, "I'm sure it's all fine now. The guy won't go near her again."

He only responded with more silence. Damn. I automatically placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and the moment we made contact, I felt a shock run through my arm. At the way he flinched away from my touch, causing us to drive into the ditch, I knew he felt it too. That little fact just made my day.

He sat frozen, the car now seemingly stuck in a very badly placed thorn bush, staring out the window. I fixed him with a look, "You felt it too. I know you did. Don't even deny it." Watch him try.

He looked at me, the hard, unreadable mask back on his face. Nothing like what it had been while we were talking. "Felt what, Rose? Your hand jumped me out of my murderous, big brother thoughts. Stop reading into things with nothing to read." His words were like a slap to the face. I hadn't taken that into consideration…

"You're _never_ surprised. Or at least you never react to someone touching you this bad," I waved my hand in direction of the bush attached to our car and took a satisfaction in how I had this effect on him. Because if he hadn't felt _it _how would he know what I was reading into?

"Am I not allowed to have a bad day?" he growled. He shifted the car into reverse, the engine revving as it pulled against the bush. He sighed, took his foot off the gas and said, "You drive, I'll push."

XXX

Once we got the car unstuck, the rest of the ride had even more unbearable tension and silence. Not to mention Dimitri keep his Guardian mask on the whole time, refused to look at me and when I attempted to make conversation or say sorry he'd answer with either a. A one worded answer b. Indistinct noises or c. No answer at all. It really was like talking to a wall. A wall that made noises every once in a while.

We finally rolled to a stop in front of a hotel. "I thought we were going to your house?" Dimitri had said that we would make it there by the end of day at the latest.

"We have to stop. It's getting dark and I don't want to risk the Strigoi waiting to ambush us on the road. I guess getting stuck took up more time than I'd thought." Rementioning the getting stuck incident made my hand tingle where I had touched him. He, on the other hand, showed no emotion at the topic. "And so we have to stay at a hotel."

We got out and Dimitri grabbed our bags. Apparently, Lissa took the time to pack some of my stuff that she'd thought I'd need. What are best friends for? We entered and I looked around the small, cosy building. It had a couple comfortable looking, but battered, leather couches along with a matching armchair in the lobby with soft lighting from a hanging lamp. The front desk also looked well used but at least, from the looks of the computer room that I could just glimpse at, they had a decent technology system. The place had an overall old, family run feel to it and I took a guess that they didn't have many rooms to begin with. Dimitri set the bags down in front of the desk and asked if there were any rooms. She nodded and he pulled out a wad of cash, counting out the cost of the room. I prayed that it wasn't his because I knew how small the Guardian pay check was and he'd be dead broke within a few months of paying for both of us without another pay check. He waved me over, walking into the elevator. Once the doors shut he said, "Check out's at eleven so no sleeping in past 8. With your knack of being late for everything I figure I need to give you a three hour lee-way time."

"Oh, thanks for the faith, Dimitri. Really makes me feel appreciated for all my talents."

He graced me with a twitch of his mouth. "You're welcome."

He unlocked the door, pushing it open with his foot. He walked in, took a quick look around and stopped in his tracks. I, not reacting quickly enough, ran into him. My body tensed, assuming some sort of threat and took a step to the side so he didn't block my view. I looked to what was causing him to have some a grim face and saw it.

Only one bed.

My palms started sweating and I knew what he was going to say before he did it. "I'll sleep on the floor," he said, deadpan. It was a good thing I'd took the liberty to start looking at other things that he hadn't, for I had the perfect argument.

"Where on the floor? The bath tub?" There was no couch and really no floor room in the cramped little room. It contained a small bathroom, a table, TV and armchair. All of that left enough room to walk around but no where near enough space for a six foot something man like Dimitri to lie down.

He shrugged, like he contemplating it.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be so immature Dimitri. This wouldn't be the first time we've shared a bed." He looked away, Guardian Mask in full force. Whoops. I felt the faint brush of a blush on my cheeks at my slip up about the cabin. So not the time to bring that up. The increasing butterflies in my stomach agreed.

"Yeah, I think I'll sleep in the bath tub." He actually walked into the bathroom to view his sleeping conditions. I heard a quiet cuss in Russian and he walked back out.

I crossed my arms. "What? Does it have soap scum?"

He showed an obvious effort to not roll his eyes. "No, it's a shower."

Oh, score one for Rose.

"You think that table could hold my weight?"

I gave a loud groan of annoyance. "Dimitri, it's a queen bed. I'm sure we can both fit on it without getting to urge to jump each other," I said sarcastically. I internally snorted. I always had the urge to jump him.

Eventually, he gave in, tossing me my bag to get changed in the bathroom. I allowed myself a satisfied smirk as I shut the door.

**Hahaha. Poor Dimitri. Left to share a bed with a determined Rose.  
**** Please review ! They motivate me to write faster. And as I've been updating daily, imagine just how much faster I could type?  
Ideas still welcome :D**

**xo Darla**


	6. Men

**Hey guys!  
Thanks for all the enthusiasm in the reviews! I loved them all so much.  
So, I'm off doing a course with my mom and it takes up most of the day all I'll have limited internet access.  
Putting this up now is a total pain. Two bars of signal Dx  
These two things mean I won't be able to update this weekend but I'll be back in business Monday!  
Enjoy!**

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I opened my bag to riffle for pyjamas but froze at the sight of what Lissa, my supposed best friend, had packed for me. Slowly, I continued digging through it, hopping to find a different type of clothing. Anywhere. No such luck. She had packed me a wardrobe that suggested I was "getting it on". Oh god, please tell me Lissa did not plan on me "getting it on" with Dimitri. I sure as hell hoped Adrian didn't know… Packed for me was all of my lacy underwear and sexy pyjamas. Nothing conservative or slightly modest in sight. Besides night wear, she'd packed me my tightest, most form fitting and non fighting friendly skinny jeans, shortest cut off shorts and, god smite her now, the black, frilly skirt she bought me one when we went shopping, claiming it made my butt look luscious and legs uber sexy. Her words, not mine. Scary thought, eh? I never wore it, even though it probably cost her a small fortune, considering how little material there was. I sighed, I was doing that a lot lately, and continued looking through. Plenty of tank tops and camis, shirts that showed midriff and, the girl actually had some kindness, a couple of my favourite lazy day T-shirts. One said "When in doubt, knock 'im out," a saying I held close to my heart, and the other was a present from Lissa back in our human living days. It was only meant to actually be worn in private, like say sleeping, for it was not public appropriate. The last thing she remembered to put in, other than my toiletries, was my work out outfit. Short sweats that said "Bad Ass" on the butt and my black tank.

I held two pairs of the most conservative of the pyjamas packed and promptly threw them both back into my bag, instead grabbing my "When in doubt shirt." I threw it on and pulled on a pair of sweat shorts. I was really going to have to go shopping if I ever planned on going anywhere other than a blood whore house. Seriously, did Lissa really think that a couple of sexy outfits was going to make Dimitri have a change of heart? I was a good idea in theory, but only if Dimitri didn't take one look at me and then throw me back into the bathroom to change. Not that there was much to change into… And her plan made all the more sense.

I quickly grabbed a red pyjama piece and threw it on, not caring how low the cut was or the fact that it only came mid-thigh. It was silky, strappy and very sexy. I took a deep breath for courage and walked out of the bathroom. Dimitri had just pulled on a shirt, allowing me only a glimpse of his tanned back. He turned and when he saw me, his face quickly turned into a frown, a frown that I couldn't help but hope was forced. "Rose, you do know that you're not sleeping by yourself, right?"

"Of course."

"It's not going to work."

Damn. He saw right through my, er, Lissa's, plan. "What's not going to work?" I asked innocently.

He rolled his eyes. "Go change."

Haha. I'd obviously got the effect I was going for. "Into what, Comrade? Take a look in my suitcase for yourself. There _is _nothing to change into. It's this," I indicated what I was wearing, "A nice, lacy bra and panty set or my birthday suit." I let my fingers play on the edge of the pyjamas, playfully indicating I was more than happy to oblige to any of the above suggestions. "Take your pick."

He turned away before I could gauge a reaction and quickly ripped out a t-shirt from his bag, throwing it at me. I caught it in front of my face and the overwhelming smell of _Dimitri_ wafted off. "I pick that."

I swiftly walked back into the bathroom, pushing the fabric into my face the moment the door was closed, inhaling deeply the smell I had been starved of for the past weeks. I quickly shed my previous pyjamas, pulling on his shirt. _Dimitri's_ shirt. Wearing a guy's shirt was only something guys that liked you allowed, right? I looked down at myself. The shirt was black, said "I'll just stick with my diet Pepsi" on the front and came just above my knees. It made me realize, again, how short I really was. I came back out and sat on the bed. "Better?"

"Much."

I lied down, pulling the covers over me. I allowed myself one last peek over at Dimitri and saw him walk into the bathroom. I closed my eyes, heard the flush of the toilet and the brief flash of light as the door opened, he turned the light off and walked back to the bed. Slowly, he flipped the covers up and slid in next to me. The whole time I felt his gaze upon me but I kept my eyes shut, pretending to be asleep. I felt his body heat, even though there was a foot of space separating us. We might as well have been touching with the tension so thick, so stringy and so electrified. I rolled onto my side, my back facing him, and I became so conscious of the man behind me that I felt the sudden urge to just jump and cry, "Alright! I'll sleep on the floor!" for I would never get any sleep at the rate my mind _wasn't _wandering off.

He never moved from his position, identical to mine, for about five minutes and then I heard him grunt and kick the blankets off his feet. "Feeling warm, Comrade?" So much for my act.

"I always get warm feet." Yeah, right. Like the fact that I was so close to him wasn't getting him all hot and bothered as well.

"Well, I'm kind of cold. Care to warm me up?"

"Rose, go to sleep." I sighed and pulled the collar of the shirt over my nose, once again inhaling that wonderful scent. Lying there, feeling the weight of where Dimitri lied beside me with his back facing me, I could almost imagine that I was pressed up against him, his arms encircling me. I let my mind wander, let it make happy pictures that my heart truly wanted. It created an ocean with white sand and a beating sun. I sat up, brushing the sand off the shirt and looked around. Adrian was staring, not at me, but my outfit, with his eyebrow cocked. "Lissa didn't pack anything "decent" so I had to borrow Dimitri's," I said, knowing what he was thinking.

"Uh huh." He glared at my shirt one last time and then looked at my face, giving me a smile. "I might just have to talk to Lissa about that and ask her why she gave you such outfits for a man who can't appreciate them on you the way I do."

I rolled my eyes, feeling guilty, and smiled back at him. "And what makes you say he can't appreciate them?"

He strutted over to me, moving his arms around my waist. "Because he made you change." His lips lightly touched mine and he pulled me close. I wrapped my arms around his neck, intensifying the kiss. His lips because harder, more insistent as I felt the soft tip of his tongue swipe across my bottom lip, demanding access. I pulled away slightly, half because I really needed some info before I got side tracked and half because it didn't feel right considering the thoughts I was having just before.

"Settle down, tiger, I need and update first."

"An update?" he breathed, distracted.

"Yes. I haven't had the opportunity to go into Lissa's head since my escape. How's it flying over there?"

He came back into his senses, gripping my hips a bit harder. The expression on his face seemed a bit excited. "Everyone's in a panic," he said excitedly. "No one knows how you escaped. Thank god those two guardians didn't remember us, that bit stuck, else Lissa and I'd be sitting in your cell. Everything's in uproar, no one's feeling safe now that the "possible assassin" has just proved herself to be one hundred percent." His face grew grim at that last comment. "I didn't realize having you escape would just be the thing to prove your guiltiness. I'm so sorry I didn't think of that."

My body grew cold. Great. Now I'd have to find the real murderer along the way if I ever wanted my name to be cleared or say, see Lissa again and live. "It's not your fault, Adrian. You just followed my wishes. No one could have predicted that."

He nodded, still upset with himself. "I just wanted to keep you alive and here I helped make sure you die if you ever get caught."

I shook my head. "That's not true. Anyways, if I ever do get caught, Dimitri will be sure to kick their asses before they can even get hold of me."

"True. I really don't like the idea of you being alone with him."

A smirk tugged at my mouth. "You jealous? Trust me; he's not going to do anything." I couldn't help the whisper of disappointment that came out with those words. His face hardened.

"Then stop wanting him to. He's over you, so you should follow suit."

Guilt and anger welled up. A bit of sadness mixed in with them. "I can't help it, Adrian. It's not something I can so easily let go of." I felt tears threatening me so I pulled away from his embrace. "I've tried, okay? Besides, what does it matter if nothing can come of them?"

"It matters because he's not yours to have. You're with me. And so you should be having those feeling for me." He jabbed a finger at his chest angrily.

"I do!" I was on the verge of yelling. "I really do. Which is why this is so much harder."

"If it's so hard, why even bother?" And with that, the dream faded and I woke up to the grey ceiling looming over me, reinforcing my now depressed state. Men.

**Just cause I won't be on doesn't mean you can't review**

**xo Darla**


	7. Soggy Cereal is Gross

**See, told you I'd update today :D  
The course with my mom was good. I learned A LOT.  
ANd now I've pretty dead set on getting a book published. Once I manage to finish a book that is.****  
Anywho, I think I left this chapter at a bad spot but my butt was getting kind fo numb so I'll probably post another chapter later today if time allows.  
Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead and therefore do not own Vampire Academy or any characters in the story.**

* * *

I felt an annoying shake on my shoulder and groaned, trying to swat it away. It went away, thank god. I was so tired. Damn it, there was is again. "ROSE!" My name, yelled in my ear, shook me more effectively out my dreamy state but I just looked up and gave the gorgeous man a don't-mess-with-me glare and closed my eyes again. "Rose, get up. It's already quarter after eight. You need to get up." Ha! Reasonable never got Rose Hathaway awake. I hadn't been up that early since I did early practice. And that of course was in a totally different time zone… when I hadn't been up till five thinking and constantly fighting against temptation in wrapping my arms around the man who slept, oblivious, a foot away from me. It would have been so easy to just snuggle up to him, accidently-on-purpose…

The ground suddenly came up to meet my face and I felt the sting of carpet on my palms and cheek. If I laid there long enough, I would start to get numb and it would be comfortable… ish. Right then, I really didn't care. "Rose. I _will_ throw you into the cold shower if you don't get up. I'm very serious." Mmm, to be wrapped in his warm, strong arms. Even for just a moment. And of course, when that moment ended I would be met with the unforgiving coldness of water in the morning. Maybe not worth it. Especially if I was going in clothed, alone.

"I'll go if you go." I felt him walk up beside me and reach down. I peeked through one eye and saw an annoyed Russian glaring at me. "Okay, okay!" Grudgingly, I pushed myself up with a loud groan and fixed Dimitri with another glare. "I am so not ready for the world right now." I just wanted to slip back into the bliss of nonsense dreams. I'd had a very short, but extremely vivid one, of a man with a hot accent breathing my name into my ear and lightly caressing my arm, placing a light kiss on my cheek. I really didn't want to forget that one since it was probably the closest I'd get to having him touch me that way again.

"Well, the worlds ready for you and it doesn't wait for anyone. Get your ass moving." Whoa, grouchy much?

I snorted and stood up, giving Dimitri a clear view of my laced pantied butt in the process. I sauntered into the bathroom and closed the door without a backwards glance.

XXX

After having a quick shower, by quick I mean forty-five minutes, and doing a haphazard hair dry that took at total of an hour with the little crap hair dryer they had, I had about half an hour to eat the "complimentary" breakfast of no name cereals until Dimitri swatted me into the car and we were off again. Of course, he had been ready by the time he'd woken me up so he had just sat there, staring at me. At first, I was a happy, thinking my outfit of a strapless tank top and skinny jeans was actually getting him to "look" at me again and then it just got unnerving. Like, he never looked away. Just a constant stare that made me eat faster so he would stop. And I guessed that was the point. Once we were in the car I asked, "What was with all the staring, Comrade?"

"You've had a piece of corn flake on your chin for the past forty five minutes." Oh god. I quickly wiped my chin, blushing brilliantly, and sure enough, a soggy piece of cereal came off in my hand. Yeah, that always makes guys look at you, just not for the desired reasons.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me before?"

"I wanted to see how long it would take you to notice." Ha, a smile!

"Oh, gee. Thank you. Way to kick a girl when she's down, why don't you." As much as I loved the man, he could be such an ass. But at least I got a smile.

He only chuckled and kept driving. We were about two hours away from his family's house so I decided that now was as good as ever to slip into Lissa's head.

"_Christian, I'm sorry. I'm just so worried about her! If they find her, they've given permission to kill her on the spot." Woah. Woah, woah, woah. Why didn't Adrian mention that last night? Probably because I pissed him off before he could…_

"_I know, Lissa. But there is nothing you can do until they find your sister or brother or whatever." He wrapped his arms around my, er, her waist and hugged her close, resting his chin on her shoulder as she clutched his back fiercely, doing whatever she could to hold herself together, for me. All of this was for me. She'd gotten as much sleep as I had last night, but instead of guy issues keeping her up she was worrying about me and what would happen if I was sighted or, god forbid, caught. She wanted to call me, to tell me to just put all my efforts to hiding away with Dimitri, who was now labelled as my partner in crime, and forget about the "mission" the Queen had given me. Apparently, I wasn't worth sacrificing. But that didn't mean I wasn't going to do it anyway._

"_I want to do something though. So badly. I just can't keep thinking about what will happen if they- if they-," she let out a sob, pressing her face into his shirt. She just couldn't stand the idea. She was able to deal with being away from me as long as she knew I was safe. Alive. That's all she cared about now and it was going to get her in trouble. Oh, so much trouble. She, the last of the Dragomirs, could not be crying over the biggest criminal, the Queen's murderer. It just wouldn't look good. Though it did make me feel a little better knowing she cared so much. _

_He pulled back a bit, tilting her chin up to look at him. "I know," he said softly. "I know what you mean. I love Rose as much as you do but I don't want her dead. And me having that feeling, I can only fathom how strong it must be for you. But right now, you can't do anything for her. You have to do what you can for yourself and the people around you. You need to help keep the Moroi world from crumbling from lack of order and leadership."_

_She sniffed, giving him a shaky smile. "I know. I'll try," she said, her voice getting stronger._

"_Good girl." He lowered her head towards hers and lightly pressed his lips to hers. "You'll do great things." Lissa brought her hand up into his hair and pulled him back down, giving me my cue to leave. Honestly, they were worse than rabbits._

I came back into my head to find Dimitri staring at me. "Everything okay over there?" Of course, he'd show some concern over _Lissa_.

"Yeah," I said, my voice deadpan and rolling my eyes. "Just peachy. Seriously, look at the road. It's not safe to not have even one eye on the road."

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "It's a stretch of nothingness for a good hour. I don't have to worry about hitting anything." Still, he turned back to look at the road. "Now, seriously, whats going on over there?"

"Well, Lissa's having a breakdown of worry over me, all the Guardians have been given permission to kill us on the spot if found and Christians helping her through it all. Like always." I smiled. If I could count on anyone to help Lissa, it would be Christian. As much as I didn't care about him, he had his uses.

"And Adrian?" I saw his jaw clench at the word but he showed nothing else to suggest his dislike.

"Oh, I don't know. I pissed him off last night so all I got out of him was that the court is in uproar before he left."

His mouth twitched, from me and Adrian fighting or the fact that we created an uproar, I wasn't sure. "Is that so?" he said softly. Once again, I was very confused.

We drove in silence until we came across the small community where Dimitri had grown up and I had resided on my way to kill him. It was nice, seeing the place where I'd actually felt like I belonged again. Except this time, I felt disconnected, knowing that my place wasn't actually here. Especially when the one person who actually tied me to the family I loved here no longer loved me. I didn't belong anywhere anymore.

I rolled down my window, breathing in the warm Russian air and watching the walking Dhampirs and humans, intermingling at stores. The kids here seemed to just be getting out of schools if the big mass of kids in front of the buildings was any indication. I tried to pick out Viktoria but every face was lost within the crowd. I looked at Dimitri's face instead and watched as all the hard lines softened and his eyes pick up that glow I rarely ever saw except for when he was truly, utterly happy. They reminded me of the night in the cabin… I menatally slapped myself and instead I smiled, glad that his hometown could still bring out the love that he always had for it. It was nice to know that not all the things he had loved before being a strigoi had been lost. We pulled up to his house and he, honest to god, looked like a kid who had just been told he was moving to Disneyland. Now, if only I could get him to feel that way about me…

We climbed out and stretched, my joints giving a little popping noise after sitting for so long. "Um, Dimitri," I said, stopping him before he tapped on the door, "I think maybe I should talk to them before you go barging in there, you being a Dhampir risen from the dead and all…" He nodded, but I could tell he felt sad that he couldn't even see his family without the possibility of them killing him. He stepped back, allowing me to knock on the door instead. I shooed him back a bit and knocked.

My knock was met with a scrambling inside the house, a bang and a Russian word that was said in a tone that made me think it was a swear. The door swung open and a smiling Olena opened the door. When she saw me, her face brightened considerably and she pulled me into a spine-crunching hug. "Rose! It's been so long!" She let go of me and held me at arms length so she could take in how I looked, probably concluding that I was too skinny, even though I ate like a starving elephant. She frowned, "You left without warning last time. I'd thought something must have happened but then Viktoria told me you'd run off, that Zmey had sent you off to Neverland or something. I really didn't take you as a girl who be intimidated so I wasn't sure if I should have believed her or not." She smiled again, "But no matter! You're here now and that's what matters. Come in and I'll make you those sandwiches that you love so much." She turned to move inside but I stopped her.

"Wait! I-I need to tell you something first." She turned back to me, surprised by my nervous tone.

"What is it, Rose? Did Abe really threaten you?"

I shook my head, "No, no. Abe can't do something like that. He's my father." I waved at her to stop her from exclaiming at that fact. "Yeah, yeah. But let me tell you what I need to tell you first." I took at deep shaky breath and continued. "You know how last time I was here, I told you that I had come to tell you that Dimitri had turned Strigoi?" She flinched as pain crossed her face but she nodded for me to continue. "Well, I'd actually come through here to find him. To kill him if possible. That was my goal. Well, I found him and tried to kill him. But I failed and continued back home, weak from blood loss and exhaustion." Olena looked ready to interrupt again but I held my hand up. "Please, let me continue. While I was here, I learned of a man who had turned a Strigoi back into the man he used to be. As in returned his soul to his body. It was said to just be a tale to unreasonably raise someone's hopes, and raise my hopes it did. I spend a long time, went to extreme lengths, to find the man who did such a thing and got all the information I could from him. I did all the steps and well, it worked. It wasn't easy by a long shot but it truly worked." I paused, letting her take it all in. She said nothing, speechless. I dropped my voice to a whisper. "He's alive again, Olena. Alive. A Dhampir."

She shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. "It's not possible. He will be forever dead."

"No, Olena. Many people thought it was impossible but I promise you. He. Is. Alive. And here."

Fear crossed her face. "_What? _You brought a Strigoi to my _home?_" She went to quickly run inside but I grabbed her, forcing her to look at me.

"Olena! I wouldn't tell you this if it wasn't true. I can prove it to you. We used Spirit, healed his soul. Let me show you." I looked at her pleadingly. "Please."

Eventually, she nodded and I waved for Dimitri to come from around the car. He stood there, looking at his mom with an expression of both sadness and complete happiness. The moment she saw his face, despite the fears and disbeliefs she had earlier, she broke from me and ran towards him, taking him into her arms and crying. She sobbed into his chest about how much she had missed him, how heartbroken she had been when he had left. He lightly brushed her hair saying soothing words. She looked up into his eyes and placed her hand on his cheek. "You really are back, aren't you?" He nodded.

"Yes, mother. I'm back and here to stay. For a while."

**Review, review, review! Anything you want to see happen in the story? Just ask and you might see it!  
**

**xoxo Darla**


	8. Guilty Pleasure

**So, since I got some suggestions I'll keep my promise and try my best to fulfill them, as long as they don't deter from what I want to happen in the story as a whole.  
****Also, I'm very happy you're all enjoying my story. You guys are the best xD  
****Enjoyyyy!  
And new readers, don't be afraid to review on old chapters. I love them all the same!**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead and own none of the characters.**

After that tearful reunion, we finally made our way back inside and straight to the kitchen. True to her word, Olena made each of us three sandwiches which we, er I, scarffed down in 2 minutes flat. I'd forgotten how good they were. Really, I should join one of those pie-eating contests. I would most definitely win and have room for more.

During some point in our kitchen chat, Yeva walked in. Dimitri gave his grandma a hug but all she gave in return was a very sad look and something almost like… disappointment. Even I shrunk back at the emotion, and it wasn't even towards me. In fact, Yeva looked at me with pride and when she walked past me to grab a sandwich herself, she spoke in a whisper so soft that I was the only one able to hear it, "You truly are the warrior I saw you to be." I smiled. Something about finally gaining her approval made me really happy. Not less scared of her but happier. I internally shook my head at myself for worrying about the opinion of a crazy person.

We didn't need to explain anything about Dimitri's new state to Yeva, her being able to see it all beforehand and everything so there were no convictions the needed to be straightened out or staking that threatened Dimitri's hard-worked-for life.

We moved out into the living room where all the others eventually joined us. Viktoria, thank god, was not pregnant and didn't _seem _to hate me anymore. All she did was stare at Dimitri and I, not saying a word. Having a flashback to my cereal on chin scenario, I quickly wiped my mouth for breadcrumbs but came back clean.

None of them took the explanation of Dimitri well but nothing as bad as Olena's and except for Viktoria's initial cry of "Where's the stake?" there were no threats on Dimitri. Soon we were all having a grand ol' time. Or as grand as one could be with their suppose-to-be-dead brother sitting with them... There still seemed to be an air of awkwardness, as if no one was really comfortable and didn't know what to say or put anything decent into words. But after five minutes of asking how our lives have been, what I've done since going back to the academy blah, blah, blah, Viktoria popped a question that made everyone shut up. Fast. "So, since you're back and all Dimitri, have you made it up to Rose yet?"

He gave a shaky laugh. "What do you mean?"

"You know, for dying and totally breaking her heart. I practically felt my own heart break when she told us about you guys." She gave a little longing sigh. "Such love. It's horrible to have that be taken away from you." Now, let's get some things straight. First, we hadn't told them about me and Dimitri breaking up. Or Dimitri breaking up with me. And I hadn't told Dimitri that I'd told them about us and that I was considered his… widow. And second, Viktoria wasn't being mean, at least not on purpose. She genuinely seemed interested in our relationship and must have noticed something was off. She seemed…_ concerned. _Weird, eh? Especially since I was the person that took away her "love", even if it was in her best interest.

Yeva gave a knowing look that sent shivers down my spine as Dimitri gave an awkward cough. "Uh.. well…-"

I cut in, "The thing with Dimitri? Well, his loves fades." Oh, harsh. But well deserved.

Every sat looking at him in a shocked silence. Olena broke it. "But- but, you guys were so… so _in love._ How could you give up on such a wonderful girl that obviously loves you back whole-heartedly? Which she proved by saving you."

Dimitri's nostrils flared and his face took on a hard look, his voice growing cold. "You don't know _anything _about mine and Roza's relationship," I hissed at my Russian name, "so stop assuming stupid things. I may have once loved her but I. Have. Moved. On. And the sooner she does, the better." And with that he angrily stormed out of the house.

I slumped in my seat. Guess I hadn't been making any progress. Karolina looked pissed, Viktoria looked stunned, Olena looked like she was about to cry, again, and Sonya had gotten up and left the room with Paul, for fear his mother might do some ass whooping in front of him. Viktoria got up and sat beside me, taking my hands. "Oh, Rose! I'm sorry my brother is such as ass but, I guess you already knew that right? I can't believe he'd do that to you. I still count you as my sister." And then she surprised me even further by giving me a hug. She whispered in my ear, "I asked my sister who got her pregnant. You were right and I'm sorry for getting so mad at you." Wow. Who would have thought Viktoria would have forgiven me so easily?

"And I," Olena said, patting my knee, "still consider you my daughter even if my son doesn't consider you his anymore. I feel what is right and what he's doing is wrong."

I closed my eyes, feeling like I was about to cry. I honestly didn't think that I would have them after Dimitri said that. I felt like a weight was taken off my shoulders to know I was still accepted by them. "Thank you. Thank you so much." I opened my eyes to Yeva's staring, watchful ones.

"My grandson is an ass." I almost burst out laughing at Yeva's blunt tone. I never actually thought I'd see the day to hear her say the word "ass", especially directed to her grandson. I didn't burst out laughing but I still gave a loud laugh.

"That is true. Very true."

"Of course it is, silly girl," her normal harsh tone was back, "I'm always right." She swept out of the room, Olena following her to go make dinner.

Viktoria was the only one still with me after Karolina left to go hit something. She seemed royally pissed at Dimitri, everyone did, and it really confused me. Why would they care so much about a girl they'd met once, rather than the boy they raised and grew up with? Were they really going to take my side in this?

She gave me a long look. "Don't worry, Rose. You'll get him back. If you can do the impossible by bringing him back to life, then I have all faith in you." She winked at me, "And I'm more than willing to help you out. Weither or not you want me to."

I smiled, bursting with happiness. "Thanks." I paused, not sure if she meant to start helping right now but decided to push what I could. "Oh, and I need to go shopping."

XXX

After showing Viktoria what Lissa had packed, she agreed that this shouldn't be my regular attire for a town with so many Dhampir bloodwhores. It would totally give off the wrong message.

After a dinner of three cheese lasagna (Dimitri didn't show up), she took me to the mall. It was realllly small compared to the ones I always went to with Lissa. At least it still had all the essentials. So, with our mission of making me look sexy but not slutty, we made our way through the stores, spending way more money than I was used to, but that was because Lissa usually bought the majority of my clothes. Well, considering I was spending Lissa's money that she had stuffed in my bag, she was buying me all my clothes like normal.

And then we had to give me a new look. I'd filled Viktoria on why we were here and, after being a bit shocked, she convinced me that I need to look at least a _little _different so that I wouldn't get killed on the spot if seen. I'd get a little time to make an escape plan before they were sure I was me. It was a good idea as long as I didn't have to go dying my hair or anything. I was more than happy with a little change but too much was, well, too much. I liked how I looked.

I got my hair cut in a new style, now having it hang just below my shoulders instead of mid-back. I would have had more cut off but I loved my long hair and I'll admit Dimitri's love for it helped influence me to keep it longer. A few red and blonde high and low lights later, I wouldn't be recognized from the back and any Guardians that saw me would have to do a double look to make sure they weren't about to jump an innocent girl. While I was getting my hair done, Viktoria had slipped off to buy me some glasses, fake ones of course, to disguise me even more. Everyone knew that Rose Hathaway had 20/20 vision. There was never a chance for me to screw up my eyes anyways.

Shopping with Viktoria made me miss Lissa more so, sitting under the hair dryer whatever thing for my high/low lights, I slipped into Lissa's head.

She was in court, fighting to drop my search and look for other suspects in the Queen's murder._ "There was no trail to prove her guilty, therefore she is still innocent. Instead of pulling all of your resources on finding Rose, you should put some on finding other suspects. I know for a fact that Rose Hathaway did not murder the Queen so I suggest that while you may not completely drop suspicion, that you at least take the chance that there are other suspects who fit the evidence better." She was doing a good job at influencing at least some of the court. They may not do what she says but her charisma and reflexive compulsion was at least planting the seed of doubt in their minds._

"_I'm sorry, Princess, but even if she _is_ innocent, which I highly doubt, she broke out of jail, a crime in itself. She is a danger to society as a whole and must be captured," said some old ass guy._

"_You know that if Rose Hathaway doesn't want to be found, she won't be. This world is falling into chaos. We need order. We can't afford to waste all of our resources on one girl who may or may not have killed my aunt. And just so you are aware, I still hold my position in saying she is fully innocent." I was surprised that Adrian was there, vouching for me. I wasn't sure what had happened after that night and I guess I now knew why he hadn't come and seen me lately. He looked tired, like he spent night after night worrying, thinking and… doing whatever else he did at night. That thought scared me the most. What if he'd gotten so mad at me that he had to go find release in some other girl? I wouldn't blame him. What with me hanging out with my first lover all the time. _

I faintly heard the hairdresser tell me my hair was done so I snapped back into my head, still curious as to what was happening back home.

Viktoria pulled me to my feet, shoving the glasses on my face and dragging me to a mirror. I held back a gasp as I looked at myself. My hair framed my face gorgeously and, though it hadn't been died blonde, it had been died a lighter shade of brown, the gold and red playing on my hair making my head look like it was a dying ember. I looked different and with my glasses, smart. And best of all, I looked sexy. "You look like a hot, badass librarian!" Viktoria squealed. Oh, joy. Note sarcasm.

"Um, I think you just ruined it by saying the librarian part."

She waved her hand, dismissing my negativity. "Who cares, you look _hot._ My brother would have to be blind to ignore you now."

I sighed, not completely sure this part of the plan would be successful. The part where I'd have just enough time to escape if seen would work but getting Dimitri to love me? I may be Rose Hathaway, goddess on Earth, but I still wasn't sure. And besides, I had more important things to worry about. Like finding Lissa's sibling and clearing my name. Damn, I still needed to phone Sydney.

5. Phone Sydney ASAP

"Come on. We should get back home," I said, still staring at myself. It was amazing how a new hairstyle could change your whole look.

XXX

We made it back to the house, finally, and I shooed Viktoria in, saying I wanted some alone time. I really did need to be alone after so much in my life had changed and I really didn't feel like calling Sydney just yet. I'd do it before going to bed but right now, I just wanted silence. Peace. A chance to just _be._ If not for a moment.

I wandered to the side of the house and saw the master of disappearance acts himself leaning against a tree, legs sprawled out, eyes closed. I walked up as silently as possible, knowing he'd probably just smell me, if he was awake. When he didn't move, I sat myself right in front of his face, leaning in. I touched his knee and he had a sudden intake of breath but he still didn't open his eyes so I moved my hand up his leg, creeping over his thigh. He squirmed slightly and I removed my hand after reaching mid thigh and instead, moving so I was between his legs, touched his cheek. I knew this was stupid, playing on luck, but after that one night of holding in all temptation, I couldn't fight it now that an equally opportune moment had shown up. Even after the speech he gave his family, I couldn't help being completely drawn to his being. I couldn't understand how a feeling like this couldn't be mutual. How after feeling like this, and I know he did, he could just forget, ignore it. I let my thumb glide along his cheek bone, the rough stubble sexily scraping my fingers and I moved my head closer to his. With me on my knees and him sitting, we were the same height so I didn't have to crane my neck to touch my lips to his. I pressed them lightly, taking in the scent of his aftershave heavily as my heart and breath sped up simultaneously. My heart was hammering, adrenaline pumping. He could wake up at any time but that fact seemed to turn me on even more. I pressed myself closer to him, allowing my lips to kiss fractionally harder, my tongue slipping out to taste him. His lips parted and a small moan escaped them, causing me to lean back, a guilty expression across my face. I was caught. He was probably going to beat my ass senseless. But still his eyes were still closed. I smiled. Guess I still had the almighty effect while he was unconscious.

Unconcious.

It didn't count but somehow I felt total satisfaction. I'd kissed him again, made him react, and to me that was progress. I touched his chest lightly and, deciding not to press my luck any further, stood up and made my way to the front of the house. He didn't have to know what had just happened, no one did. It would be my guilty pleasure, my dirty little secret. I looked back once more to see him still sleeping peacefully against the tree, the only change being his face held a lazy grin, one who'd find on a man imagining naughty thoughts. Smiling, I walked inside the house, picked up the phone and dialled Sydney's number.

**There. You've got some R/D action, if not much on Dimitri's part, it was the only way anything was going to happen. :D  
I feel like I kind of rushed and jumped around in this chapter but.. I think it turned out pretty good.**

**I'm just gonna say I'm kind of disappointed in the percentage of you guys actually review. I get 2-7 reviews per chapter but, if the numbers are correct, a gazillion more times amount of people who read them. So, REVIEW! Please? With a cheery on top? I love them so much D:  
Now I'd like thank all who do review very much. They're kind of the highlight of my day after updating a new chapter. No big or anything... xD**

**More suggestions are still welcome! I've got the basic idea down (actually, no I don't but shh, don't tell anyone) but I need more… stuff for the chapters.  
And I updated, so please grace me with your lovely notes of... loveliness**

**xo Darla**


	9. Please

**11 reviews on the last chapter? I love you guys so much!  
****I'm sorry if Dimitri being an ass made any of you guys feel sad but really, he's proven he **_**can **_**be one (flashback to making Rose cry with hateful words in Spirit Bound) so when he loses control? Wa bam.  
****Hopefully this chapter will be as successful as my last one in making you guys happy :D  
****Enjoy!  
Oh, and I love all the guesses you guys made about weither Dimitri was faking being asleep or not. But I'm going to be mean and not tell you :K**

* * *

Phoning Syd had been a breeze, minus the yelling about me being a crazy wombat and how I had the nerve, as an escaped criminal, to call her asking for help. After letting her let off some steam though, she did agree to get me as much information as she could on both Lissa's dad/mistress, even though some of the files were still missing, and any suspicious evidence collected at the Queen's murder sight that pointed to anyone but me. She also said she'd send me an untraceable cell phone in case I needed to contact her or anyone else and promised not to give away my location. She recommended me not using any more landlines. Guess she believed I was innocent… for an evil creature of the night.

After that lengthy phone call, I managed my way upstairs and plopped, exhausted, onto my bed. I'd really had no break today. Driving to Baia, emotional explosion in the living room, shopping (that's enough to kill the best of people) and my little secret on the side of the house. Thinking about it still made me tingle all over but something about the way he _didn't _wake up made me nervous. He was the best, shouldn't he be aware of his surroundings, even when asleep? Maybe just being in his hometown put him at ease, let him let his guard down. Or maybe he was already thinking about me so my presence just made it seem that much more… real. That thought made me smile. Or maybe he had been awake. Now that I would love.

I let my eyes drift close, only bothering to strip off my clothes, and fell asleep in my underwear deciding I didn't care to find any pyjamas. Images twirled behind my eyes, making pretty pictures that caused my heart to sing and my chest to weep. I was spiralling in a giant rainbow, hoping to find the end where maybe a little man in a green outfit would help me out. And then I was sitting in a field. The sky was a soft blue with a tinge of pink meaning the sun was just finishing rising or was about to set. In front of me sat Adrian, crossed legged, in a black wife beater and board shorts. I looked down at myself and saw myself in similar attire, except woman version. And short shorts instead of board. "Long time no see."

He nodded. "Sorry about that… It's just last time so left me kind of…"

"Upset? Pissed off? Jealous?"

He smiled. "All of the above." He eyed me. "What did you do to your hair?"

I twirled a lock around my finger. "Got it coloured. Don't want them being too sure about who I am right off the bat. I like my body bullet-free."

He cocked his head and then realization dawned. "I like it," he reached over and let his fingers run through it. "Been watching often?"

I shook my head. "Haven't had much time. And it's hard enough dealing with my life alone, never mind having the issues of life back home."

He stood up and sat beside me, wrapping an arm around my waist, causing guilt about earlier to twist around my stomach. "It's okay. We'll do what ever we can to our utmost ability to try and keep you safe. Even if it means having to argue to old men with sticks up their asses all day."

"I'm sure that's a great sacrifice for you. You actually getting anywhere with it?"

He shrugged. "I've been working on trying to convince the council to lay off looking for you and searching for more suspects." I nodded, indicating I knew that already. "I think we've got them thinking about it. They'll never truly give up looking for you and you'll still have the charge of breaking out of jail on your shoulders, even if we find the real murderer. But hey," he gave a lopsided smile, "they might drop them in lue of you beating the crap out of them for wrongly accusing you. They know you can do it."

I laughed. "Maybe, maybe." I sighed. "I just wish this would all be over with. I want them to find the murderer so I can walk around without fear of being shot if spotted."

"So do I, my little Dhampir, so do I."

I rested my head on his shoulder, his arms wrapped around me, and we just sat there, embraced. It was nice, comforting. I realized now that, although his touch didn't leave the same shock of electricity that Dimitri's had, it still held something that made me feel loved, made me want him. I really was just a masochist, always wanting what I couldn't have. Why couldn't I just be happy with Adrian? He loved me and I loved him and as much as I knew it wasn't that same as what I had with Dimitri, I was still happy with him. Honestly, I was. It made a hell of a lot more sense to just give up on Dimitri and stay with Adrian than to continue longing for what I couldn't have. Damn it, Rose. He already told you time and time again to move on. That he already did. Why couldn't I force myself to let go of him? At the rate I was going, I was going to lose both of them in the process since I was being so unfair to Adrian. Or myself for that matter.

Feeling guilty about having these thoughts while in such intimate proximity to Adrian, I pulled away. "You should probably get back. You need the sleep." I wasn't sure if he had come from a sleeping trance or his meditating, sitting one, so this was a 50/50 chance in having him leave me to my guilty thoughts.

He nodded. "I have to get up soon anyways.' His nose crinkled in dislike, "Another meeting." He stood up, pulling me with him, and kissed me deeply. "Sorry for being such a jealous idiot. I know you won't betray me," he said with a kind smile.

I felt like he had just stabbed me in the stomach. "Course not," I said with fake sincerity. But he believed me and the dream faded with him mouthing "I love you," and I fell back into my dreams of whirlwind colours.

When I woke up, it was with a grumbling stomach and a sense of foreboding. Guilt weighed me down so badly I ended up just lying there, staring at the ceiling. Viktoria was still sleeping soundly in her bed next to mine so I assumed it was a Saturday. It's amazing how I'd had no idea of what day it had been for the past… week? Two weeks? The days in the cell had blurred together. I breathed deeply. It was Saturday. A brand new day. I was a brand new girl. Sydney had told me that, if I hadn't already, to try to go by some form of alias to any of the locals in case any Guardians came by asking for a Rose. If no one knew of me as Rose they could honestly say no. Of course, that would only work if the locals didn't still recognise me, which I was sure they would. Hell, maybe they didn't remember my name anymore though. I had been away for a while…

Eventually, my stomach getting the best of me, I got up, pulled on one of my new outfits, a red V-necked t-shirt and jean shorts, and walked down stairs to the smell of eggs and bacon. I walked into the kitchen smiling to Olena. "Anything I can help you with?"

"No, no, dear. Sit down and I'll get you your breakfast. Sleep well?"

I pulled out a chair at the table; Sonya gave me a smile and continued shoving food into her mouth. I shrugged. "It was alright. I was pretty exhausted so it would make sense for me to stay asleep all night. Didn't get much sleep the other night."

Olena placed my plate in front of me. It sizzled with the smell of eternal happiness, making me grab a piece of bacon before it was even out of her hands. She smiled at my eagerness. "Anything else I can get you?"

"Got any donuts?"

She shook her head. "No, but you can get some later. I need someone to get my groceries today anyway."

Dang. I needed my morning donut fix. "Okay, thanks." She left to go back into the kitchen as Dimitri walked down the stairs. Guess he came back in the house after all. "Nice of you to grace us with your presence."

He grunted, not meeting my eyes. Not even looking at me. "I was hungry."

Olena came back out of the kitchen, plate already in hand. "Is that all I am to you? A food provider?" she asked jokingly. I guess that even an annoyance of her sons tattered love life, at his fault, didn't stop her from loving him.

He gave a quick shake of the head and smiled at her. "You are so much more. You keep my clothes clean." She "hmph"ed and gave him a light, playful, smack on the back on his head. I bit back the grin that threatened to spread over my face and shovelled more egg into my mouth.

He looked over at me from across the table, meeting my eyes for a split second before giving all his attention to his food. I swear I saw a smile on his face before all emotion erased from it as he starting taking civilized sized bites. What was so funny? "Being a bit dainty on the eating, aren't you, Dimka? Honestly, you're acting more like a lady than the others in a house of girls." I looked up to see Viktoria entering, a plate in hand. She sat next to me, giving me a smile. "Morning. And I need to talk to you later, Rose." She winked. Oh God, this could not be good.

Dimitri just glared at her and took a single, tiny bit of egg and placed it in his mouth. "At least I know I won't accidently choke from eating too fast," he said, eyeing my already empty plate that had been full minutes before.

I shrugged. "Hey, I was hungry."

He shook his head playfully. "I'll give you twenty minutes to digest that before I expect you out there running."

I looked at him incredulously, "You can't be serious! I'm not your student anymore, therefore you can't boss me around."

He rolled his eyes. "You still need to keep in shape, even if you aren't going to be on Guardian duty."

I grumbled, knowing he was right. I stood up, taking my plate with me. "Oh, and call me… Rach from now on. Even if everyone here still recognises me, we want as many people knowing me as Rach rather than Rose. If anyone asks for Rose, no one will know who they're talking about."

Before I could leave to the kitchen though, Dimitri stopped me with a question. "Why'd you cut your hair, Ro-, er Rach?"

I smiled, still not facing them, due to his obviously placed nonchalant tone. I turned around to face him. "Oh, just needed a change. It'll help me blend in if anyone's looking for _me._"

He nodded, trying his best to hide any emotion in his eyes. "I like it. Very…"

"Sexy, badass librarian-y?" Viktoria cut in.

"Librarian-y?" He asked, confused. I shoved my glasses on. "Oh."

An idea came to me and I slowly took my glasses back off, shook my hair out a bit and said, huskily, "Mr. Belikov, do you know what the penalty is for an overdue book?" You gotta love "Bones" quotes.

"Rose, go run."

I smiled, turned on my heel and walked into the kitchen. On the way there I heard Viktoria say, not so quietly, "Oh come on, you know that turned you on," and then a silky voice told her to shut up.

XXX

I was sitting on the front porch, tying up the laces of my runners, when Paul came around from the back and walked up to me. "Rose?"

I looked up and smiled. "Yes, Paul?"

"How come I never hear you and Uncle Dimitri say you love each other? My mom said that if you truly love someone, you have to let them know. And Auntie Viktoria said you guys are in love. And I asked Uncle and he said that love is a relative term and he shows his love in the only way he can," my heart leaped, "since he is incapable of loving you anymore." Fuck. What the hell was that suppose to mean? "And I don't know what that means…" Brilliant. But that was probably meant towards the word "incapable."

I gave him a tight smile and patted his shoulder. "It means that you won't be hearing him say "I love you" to me anytime soon." And then I took off running before I started to cry.

XXX

Running like this, leisurely instead of for my life, was nice. It had been a while since I'd actually just ran to the rhythm of my Ipod, nothing to worry about except keeping my feet on the ground. Of course, my mind was bantering off angry thoughts about Dimitri and trying to figure out what "love is a relative term" was suppose to mean. After about thirty minutes of being alone, Dimitri silently joined me, not saying anything but keeping to my pace. I guess _thinking _of the devil made the devil appear too. I looked over at him, trying to catch his eye, but he kept looking forward even though I knew he could see me looking out of his peripheral. I silently fumed to myself.

I wished I hadn't kissed him yesterday. It was wrong and it only made me want a second helping. I kept thinking back to the way his lips felt, soft and callused against mine and the whispered moan I had caused still caused my lower abdomen to squirm. I might as well have forced myself upon him, taking advantage like that. But at the same time, I didn't regret it. If that was the last and only time I'd get to kiss then, hell, I would make sure I burned every moment, every sensation into my mind. _Masochist, _I thought to myself silently. And besides, he deserved to be taken advantage of for being non-observant. I replayed it in my mind, closing my eyes as the memory took over my senses. "You alright?" I had slowed down without even noticing and opened my eyes to a concerned looking Dimitri. Now who was being non-observant?

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Just peachy." Cause I was so going to tell him that I was having a memory overload about kissing him after he threw my heart out of the window, again, via his little nephew. "Just got dragged down by my thoughts I guess… but I'm alright." I started running again, a bit faster than I was before. He came up beside me effortlessly.

"You sure? You looked kind of dazed. With a stupid grin on your face. I thought maybe you had gone into Lissa's head."

I had a stupid grin on my face? Damn. "No, I wasn't in Lissa's head. I was just thinking." Why was he being so pushy?

"You know, if you need to talk I'm, you know, still here to listen." Ha! He wouldn't want to hear what I had to say.

"Why do you think I want to talk?"

"Because I can see that you've been crying." Damn it. I'd stopped crying like, twenty minutes ago. They couldn't still be wet could they? I rubbed my eyes but they were dry. They must still be red.

I slowed down and he followed suit until we came to a full stop behind a building. He raised an eyebrow at me. "Alright. I want to talk right now." Honestly, I think I was slowly losing control over my body. I took a deep breath and took a step towards him. He, in turn, took a step back into the wall. "I've been feeling totally lost lately. Confused, frustrated," Guilty, annoyed, fighting for control and losing… "And, having this constant weight on my shoulders is really starting to piss me off. A lot is pissing me off, actually." Like you.

He blinked. "What are you talking about exactly…?"

I took a step closer to him, knowing he couldn't step away without being rude and he wasn't going to do that until he was sure of my intentions. It felt nice to have the upper hand for once. "I've got so much responsibility right now. I could die at any moment if I got recognized as Rose." Another step closer, only a foot away. "I have this impossible mission I have to fulfill and I have no idea how to do it. And the most pettiest thing in my life in the thing I'm most worried about." I refused to believe what Paul had told me. "Every turn I make, my heart hurts. Every decision causes it to break and twist." Closer. If I just pressed myself a bit further I would be against him in the perfect position for our lips to meet. Adrian was at the back of my mind. Any guilt I felt later would be worth the extravagance of the moment. "There's no relief for me, anywhere." My voice fell to a whisper, "I need to know, Dimitri. I don't know what to do anymore." I filled that little space separating us and lifted my face, pressing myself against him. I felt him tense up.

"Rose…"

I held my hand up. Almost pleadingly, I said, "Please. Please, just once. Please… kiss me."

**Hahaha, end of chapter. Please don't kill me in my sleep O_o  
Now, I want your opinion on this. How the hell is Sydney going to find information on Lissa's sibling…?  
****And what are your guesses on who her sibling is?  
****Like really, I've got all the love life stuff planned out (er, sort of?) but no idea about the really important stuff (to some people. I think Rose and Dimitri getting back together is much more important than getting Lissa her spot on the Court.)  
****Review!  
****And do you guys think the story (as a whole) is going too slow, too fast or at a good pace? Don't want you guys getting impatient or anything :D**


	10. Damn them all

**Sorry for being so mean to you guys but it made you come back right? :D  
****So, a lot of you said you wanted Dimitri to give in. Now the question is did I listen?  
****Yes and no.  
****Why am I so mean? Because the reviews that say I'm so cruel make my heart tingle in happiness.  
****Not because I like being called mean, or being mean, but the fact that I can create such emotion :D  
****Anyways, I love you guys for your reviews and ideas for the story and I shall now reward you with another chapter.  
I was actually considering holding this back for an extra day to see how many people would PM me to ask what the hell was taking so long… but I didn't  
****So review  
****Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead. I do not own her story. So seriously, don't sue me. **

I tangled my hands roughly in his hair, pulling him down towards me, before he could make any more protests. I felt his hands on my hips and then they slid up my back and over my arms, leaving them feeling electrified in their wake. For a moment, I actually thought he'd given in, finally accepted that he still loved me. His lips lightly caressed mine and I kissed him harder, my tongue darting out and skimming his lower lip. We kissed in a frenzy after such a long time apart. His hands rested on mine and then they gripped my wrists tightly, untangling them from his hair. His lips slackened, allowing me entrance. And enter I did, until I was suddenly pulled away, gasping. My wrists were still tightly wrapped in the prison of Dimitri's hands and he glared down at me, not with the heat and passion I had hoped for but with anger and disbelief. "What…?" I asked, confused by the sudden change. He had been giving in. I was sure of it. "Why did you stop?"

"The was a mistake. Reflex. There was_ nothing _in that."

A smile twitched on my face, despite the mistake comment. "So, kissing me like that was reflex?"

He flared his nostrils. "I wasn't thinking. I just fell into the pattern of what we _had._ Not what we _have._" There was determination in his voice and that's what tipped me off. There was _determination, _not conviction or exasperation of my futile attempts.

I smiled again and, though his hands still gripped me tightly, moved closer to kiss again, planting a kiss on his chest and letting my nose graze across it.

"Rose! Stop it. You're acting like a little bloodwhore, doing anything to get another one of my bites."

He might as well have slapped me in the face. I ripped my wrists away from him and took a step back, feeling the sting of cold after his warm embrace. Suddenly, I was no longer wrapped in the heat of the moment, or just angry at his stubbornness, I was _furious_ about what he had just said. "Is that what this is all about? Why you refuse to even touch me if you can help it? Is it because you still see me as that stupid little bloodwhore that _you made of me?_" He flinched and I took a step closer, not from passion, but from the fact that I wanted to jab his chest with all the power my finger could muster. "You think you can just force me into the weakest moment of _my life_ and then hold it against me? Well, if I was such a bloodwhore, then _how the hell_ did I manage to escape becoming a Strigoi, kill the big, bad leader and then _get away from you_? Just remember that _you,_ the biggest badass Strigoi of them all, lost to a little _bloodwhore_ who was weak from _blood loss_," stab in the chest, "_exhaustion," _stab, "and who was in a _sweater dress_," stab, "at the time." I breathed heavily. "You were weak. Still are."

His face was hardened with anger as well and he spoke with a tone that chilled me more effectively than ice water. I never wanted to hear it again. "I could have killed you at any time. Changed you. So don't you go calling me weak."

I let out a humourless laugh. "But you didn't. And that's what made you weak. You've lost your touch so bad that you don't even respond to someone touching you when you're sleeping." I hadn't meant to make that reference but I saw on his face that he knew what I was talking about but hadn't thought it had actually _happened._ "During that time, I thought that maybe there was still a part of _you_ in there. A part of the man I still loved. But now I realize that their may not have been a part of the Dimitri I loved in the Strigoi, but there is still a part of the Strigoi in _you._"

He let out a growl but I had already turned and started running at full speed away from him. Anywhere would be fine as long as I was away from him. I felt no tears, I felt nothing at all. Dimitri didn't have to worry anymore. I was _so _over him. If that's what he thought of me, a weak little bloodwhore, then I would show him how not weak I really was. I would get over him, finish this damned mission and get home to leave him in his happy life of servitude to Lissa. See if I cared. There would be no more guilt about being disloyal to Adrian. No guilt about betraying the man who loved me… and that I loved. The love I held for Dimitri was cast out from my heart, replaced with hate by his stupid weaknesses. Didn't he realize that I saw him as a _Strigoi,_ seen him in all his evil glory,and it hadn't changed how I felt? He should at least have given me the same benefit of the doubt.

My eyes were so blurred with tears, not for Dimitri but from the wind (or so I told myself), that I didn't see the man outside the house talking to Viktoria before I slammed right into him. We fell in a tangle of limbs to the ground, both of us letting out a yell at the impact. I opened my eyes to find him on top of me, shock clearly evident in his dark, almost black eyes. His dusted blonde hair fell around his face, tickling my cheek and he smelled _oh so good_. I would have taken more time to appreciate how I managed to get into this situation with a really hot Dhampir if I hadn't been so insanely mad at the male race at the moment. "Jesus, get off. You're _heavy._" His mouth twitched as he pushed himself up, holding out his hand to help me up, which I ignored, and got up myself, dusting the dirt off my back. This was so not helping my mood.

"I do think you're the one who fell on _me_." I ignored him.

"Oh, Rach!" Viktoria yelled, surprised yet enthused about my sudden arrival, "This is what I wanted to talk to you about earlier. I want to introduce you to Jas [Jay-zzzzz], a new pal of mine." He held out his hand to shake but I ignored it, again. "He agreed to help with operation "Get Dimitri Back". He said he doesn't really have any limits, so we can use him to our satisfaction." She smiled, hoping I would be as excited as she was about her "genius" plan. I had to hand it to her, it would be a good idea, if say, I still wanted Dimitri back.

"Viktoria," I said slowly, not wanting to take my anger out on her, "I don't want Dimitri anymore. In fact, he can die a slow, painful death and then burn in hell for the rest of eternity for all I care." I paused. "No offense or anything."

Viktoria looked at me in shock. "What did he do to you?" Jas was completely forgotten in Viktoria's worry.

Though he was forgotten to Viktoria, I was still keenly aware of his presence. "I'll tell you when we're in a more… private setting." The last thing I wanted to do was have some unknown stranger, no matter how chummy he was with Viktoria, to know about my deep dark secrets.

Jas, getting the memo said, "I'll leave after you shake my hand." Smart-ass. I stuck my hand out quickly and he shoke it, holding on to it longer than he needed to and said with a smile, "I'm Jas, here to be of service… in any way you desire." I caught the second meaning as his eyes did a quick flick up and down my body and meeting back at my face.

I gave a tight smile back and pulled my hand out of his. "Thanks, Jas. I'm Rach. And I won't be needing your 'services' anymore."

"Hmm, that's a shame…" His face dropped in disappointment and started to leave after my leave-or-die face but Viktoria called after him.

"Wait! Jas, Come back later. Just cause there's a change in plans, doesn't mean there is no plan."

I gave her a suspicious look. What the hell did that mean? I was about to ask her but she dragged me into the house and demanded to know what happened before I had a chance. I looked around to make sure no one else was looking and then back a her. Taking a deep breath, I was about to tell her the entire story about Dimitri making me his personal bloodwhore blah blah blah but I chickened out last minute and said, instead, "Basically, he's gotten tired of how desperate I seem to be and it's reminding him of the weakest moments of my life I had. And he doesn't like how "weak I am" even though it was all his fault anyways. He refuses to look past old memories to embrace who I really am." Wow, Rose, way to sound totally _lame._

She cocked an eyebrow at me. Damn her. The skill must run in the family. "You sure that's the full story?"

"No, but I'm not really up to reliving such bad events."

She nodded, understanding. "Okay, well, if he doesn't like how desperate you are, why don't you look uninterested in him and make him be the desperate one?"

"What? He's made it clear he's _not _interested and will _never be _interested. Trust me, I got the memo." Did I ever. "Besides, I'm not interested in him anymore so it's a moot point. At least I don't have to feel guilty about basically cheating on my boyfriend anymore."

Her eyebrows shot way up. "You have a boyfriend? Why didn't you mention this _before_?" I shrugged. "What's his name? What's he like? Is he really worth losing Dimitri over?"

I held up my hands in defence. "Woah, girl, slow down. His name's Adrian, he's smart, kind and a total smart ass. And it doesn't matter, I've already lost him." Him being Dimitri.

She shook her head. "Okay, so I don't care if you have a boyfriend. And I don't care if you aren't interested," she said it like she didn't believe me anyways. "I do recall saying I was going to help you weither you wanted me to or not?" Damn them all.

XXX

Later that day, Sydney phoned me to give me an update. That update consisted of her telling me there was no update. All she could tell me was that all the other files on the Dragomirs had been stolen and that she wasn't given permission to look at the case files for the murder. She sneered at the word "permission" and said she'd do some sneaking around for me. I thanked her and that was it. I was damned to stay here even longer. I mean, I loved the Belikov's and all but I wasn't looking forward to seeing Dimitri again, living through Viktoria's "plans", or continue grocery shopping. Though I didn't have to deal with the first two just yet, Olena begged me to go grab her a few things and, being the nice guest who's getting bed and food for free, gave in and took the trip.

I prayed I wouldn't see anyone I knew while shopping. Could I really get anyone to think of me as Rach? Really? I walked down the aisles, putting items from the list into the cart. As I past people, we would give a pleasant smile to each other and be on our way. No seemed to remember me with my hair and glasses.

I finished off the list and pushed my cart into the smallest line for the cashier. I looked up at her as I made my way to the front. She didn't pay me any mind yet and I found she was vaguely familiar. Was she here last time? I remembered now. She was a cashier, older than I was by at least 10 years, when I was here last and with my frequent grocery stops, we came to be friends. In a way. Well, hopefully she didn't remember me anymore.

My hopes were thoroughly crushed as I came to the front. After a quick scrutiny to make sure I was who she though I was she greeted me with an enthusiastic "Rose! It's been so long!" and an awkward hug over the till.

I smiled and said, crossing my fingers, "It's Rach, actually."

She gave an embarrassed gasp. "Really? I seriously thought it was Rose!"

I smiled, coming up with a story to calm her down. Shrugging I said, "I grew out of using my middle name… It was a faze." I smiled, reassuring her.

"Oh? Rose was your middle name?" She laughed, a kind tinkling sound. "Well, I guess every kid goes through that faze where they don't care for their first name, right?"

I nodded, happy my plan worked. "Yeah."

She smiled and started ringing in my items. When she was finished, I handed her the money and took my bags, waving good-bye and only feeling slightly guilty about lying. Because really, it was my life I was dealing with.

**Okay, so anyone have any ideas about what Viktoria should do with Jas?  
****I don't actually have many plans for him but I made him so that I had the option to…  
****Really, any and ALL ideas are welcome and shall be read, put through the creative machine in my head and then scribbled, er, typed into some logical formation.  
****Anyone ready to punch Dimitri? I am.**

**Reviewwww  
****And sorry if this is a bit shorter than the last couple chapters. I just had a total lack of ideas of where to take this… **

**Also, I'm not feeling too well so if I don't update tomorrow, that's why.  
When I feel sick, my creative juices plummet and the story would probably turn out something like this:**

**Rose: Dimitri, I hate you.  
****Dimitri: I hate you too.  
****Rose: I should have killed you while you were still a Strigoi  
****Dimitri: I should have killed _you _while I was still a Strigoi  
****Rose: *pulls out bazooka*  
****Dimitri: Oh shit. Uhhh, Rose? I love you.  
*****BAM*  
****Me: Face it, Dimitri, you deserved it.**

**END**

**And you don't want that do you?**


	11. Magic Hands

**Apparently, a lot of you guys weren't a big fan of the last chapter.  
****But I promise that now that Dimitri's had his climax of being an ass with his ass-y reason for being an ass, he shall mellow out ass-wise (is anyone counting how many times I said ass in that sentence?)  
****I just figured that before things could get better, they had to get a hell of a lot worse.  
****Oh, and a shout out to everyone who gave some ideas. You fuelled the break down of my writers block. If only to give me something to work towards.  
****And thanks to everyone else who supports me with my story! I literally sit at my desk refreshing my inbox for reviews after I post a new chapter. Seriously, sometimes I think I have no life. **

**And so we begin**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead and own no characters except Jas who is a figment of **_**my **_**imagination, not Richelle Mead's. Someday, I hope she's as jealous of him as I am of Dimitri. **

I was grumbling over my stack of pancakes cursing my life, Dimitri, my lack of progress, Dimitri, the not-so-bright future of my love life (Adrian and I had had a fight again last night. Apparently I hadn't been thinking straight and spilled the whole story to him… including the kiss… and me initiating it) and, of course, Dimitri. Honestly, I should have kicked him in the nads for what he had said. I should have hit him over the head and spat on his unconscious figure. Hell, I should never have agreed to coming with him.

Fortunately, for Dimitri's well-being that is, I hadn't seen him this morning. Apparently, he had gotten up mega early for some run that had lasted, what? 3 hours now? At least he saved me the effort of avoiding him.

I angrily shoved another syrup soggy piece in my mouth and looked up as Viktoria came through the front door, giggling, with a happy Jas by her side. "Raaachyyy," Viktoria cried out, coming up beside me. "Guess what I have planned?"

Not even looking up at her, or Jas, I said, "Don't want to hear it." I thought about it for a second, "Unless it involves destroying Dimitri for the near future. Then I'm in."

She shook her head. "Oh, Rach. It's too early to be so… morbid." Didn't she take the same lessons in killing Strigoi as me? How was that morbid? "Anyways! Here's the plan: When Dimitri comes back, he'll walk in and see you being all chummy with Jas here," she touched his shoulder to make sure I knew who she was talking about. Like I hadn't noticed he was standing beside her, "And then he'll invite you spar with him." She glared at me to prove her seriousness, "You will say yes." She said it as an order. Viktoria brightened up again, "When you spar, it'll probably last a while if you are both trying," I raised my eyebrows at that.

"You are aware that I graduated top of my class, have killed countless Strigoi and am a total badass right?" I eyed Jas, "He wouldn't last five minutes with me."

He smiled arrogantly, like he was totally up for the challenge. "Now, now, Rach, I graduated top of my class too."

I snorted. "Now, if you graduated, why aren't you out protecting some royal Moroi? They never waste the best ones." Except me of course.

He shrugged. "Didn't want to." He left it as that. "What about you? They never waste girls, especially if they're the best."

Damn. I needed a cover story. "I'm on vacation." Oh, brilliant Rose.

Viktoria, budded back into the conversation, annoyed at the interruption. "_Anyways,_ you guys can get to know each other later, you'll get all hot and sweaty and tension shall be created as he straddles you to the mat and then you guys start making out." She sounded like one of those hopeless romantics. "What do you think?" she asked, hopeful.

"I think it's crap." I said bluntly, turning back to my pancakes.

Jas smiled. "Told you it was crap, Viktoria."

She humphed. "Well, it wasn't on my best top plans list. But _come on_ it could work."

"Yeah, if I normally threw myself at men I just met or if Dimitri was a special in the brain. Or if he cared."

Jas came up behind me, placed his hands on my shoulders, and bent down so that his lips were almost touching my ear. "Oh, Rachy," he whispered, his breath tickling me and making me shiver, "you don't have to _throw _yourself at me. Just… have some fun. Hell, it doesn't even have to be for the results you want… or don't want from Dimitri." He lifted his head back up from my ear but kept his hands on my shoulders.

Fun did sound kind of nice… especially if it was with a really hot Russian guy. He was nowhere near as hot as Dimitri, no one could replace the God, and he definitely wasn't as bad ass but, really, what did I have to lose? I'd already lost Dimitri, Adrian currently hated me and I had to wait on Sydney before I could actually do anything productive so, why not have some fun? I nodded, smiling, about to tell Jas to not push it, when I noticed Dimitri standing in the doorway, staring at Jas and I, a mixture of disbelief, sadness, anger and… jealousy? on his face. He must have witnessed that close contact. Before I, or anyone else could say anything, he was out the door for another run.

"Anyone else find anything promising out of that reaction?" Viktoria asked, stealing a piece of my pancake.

I glared at her for her thievery before answering, "No. He probably didn't think I'd still be in the kitchen, so when he saw me, he ran off." I really couldn't afford to be hopeful anymore where Dimitri was concerned. My heart was still in taters. I looked around to see that Jas had a goofy smile on his face. "What are you smiling about?"

He shook his head, smile still permanently etched to his face, "Nothing, nothing. Rach, let's go spar, shall we?"

I had the urge to smack his head off right then and there. "I'm not going to get all hot and heavy with you, allow the tension to build and then make out with you if that's what you think."

He ruffled my hair, damn him. "I know, just want to see your 'skills'." What, did he doubt that I could kick his ass.?

Viktoria, ever pleased that at least some of her plan was going into play, immediately ushered us out the door to the backyard. Guess I was doing this weither I wanted to or not. But that didn't mean I couldn't try. "I didn't get to finish my pancakes!"

"You already ate 10 pounds worth of them!"

"But I wanted that last pound!"

Viktoria rolled her eyes at me. "You ate the last pound in the form of syrup, so stop whining."

I took a deep breath, accepting my defeat and took a fighting stance in front of Jas. He smirked and did the same. I waited for him to make the first move but after a few moments, I realized he was doing the same so I quickly moved forward and threw a punch, which he blocked, and then managed to knee him in the thigh since he saw it was coming for his stomach. He flinched, my knees are quite bony, and took a step towards me to try to hit me in the stomach. Hit, block, hit, block. It seemed we were well matched until I jumped to the side from one of his attacks, slid my foot behind his and moved it forward in a quick motion, causing him to fall on his butt. Immediately, I leaped on top of him to stake him. He rolled, pinning me under him, breathing hard. He moved his face towards mine and for a heart-stopping moment I actually thought he was going to kiss me but instead he moved his mouth to my neck and, realizing that I was almost dead, I did what I always seemed to do now in life-threatening moments (or fake ones), I called in some darkness. With new found strength and fury the lead on the battle I swiftly found a way to wiggle my arm out from under his, which had just recently been completely unmoveable and moved my hand in a quick upward thrust at his heart. "Dead!" All this happened within the slow moving moments of his mouth inching towards my throat, his mouth now gaped in shock literally a centimetre from the "dead spot".

He pushed up, still on top of me I might add, and asked, completely in shock, "How? When? Impossible!"

I laughed, pushing him off before he regained his senses to use the position to his advantage and answered, "Guess I'm just better then you."

His smile returned to his face. "You badass minx. You're the first person to beat me since I graduated."

I raised my eyebrows. "How long ago did you graduate?"

"Last year." Bah ha ha ha. I can't even give him slack for being a newbie. He's a year older than me.

I fist pumped the air, "I beat your _single _year undefeated streak!"

He scowled at that. "Yes, you did, and now I have to beat you in order to win my pride back."

I laughed. "Don't think it will happen any time soon. I'm the best," I said, matter-of-factly.

Jas shook his head. "No, I heard that Rose Hathaway is the best. Beat her and I'll start giving you credit." I laughed inwardly to myself. I'm just badass. No big. "But she broke out of jail, so I hope you have good tracking skills." Well, at least my badass stunts are well broadcasted.

XXX

Jas hung out with me for the rest of the day, much to my chagrin. No matter how many times I told him to go away, he insisted upon staying and being all touchy-touchy with me. "What, is Viktoria paying you or something?"

"Nah, I just have nothing better to do than hang out with a pretty, badass girl and have a free-for-all in terms of flirtation, since Viktoria's given me the all go no matter what you say. And she's sure that I won't let myself get too critically injured from you."

I rolled my eyes, "Where is the girl responsible for my suffering?"

He shrugged. "Shopping? Isn't that what all girls do in their spare time?"

"I don't."

"Right. You spend all your free time sitting on the front porch holding a cell phone in your hand hoping that some unnamed person will phone you while avoiding the big, bad Belikov brother. You gonna tell me who's call you're waiting for yet?"

"Nope. Thought you weren't suppose to ask questions?"

He sighed and leaned his head back on the wall. "Only about you and Dimitri. Can I at least hold your hand?"

"Nope. How do you know the call isn't about me and Dimitri?"

"Dimitri and _I,_" He corrected. "And you live with him. Why would you wait for his call? How about we cuddle? You can sit in my lap."

"Good point and no-ope."

He sighed again. "How about I give you a massage? People say I have magic hands."

"No-," I stopped. I would love a massage… But from the guy that's suppose to make Dimitri jealous? "No thanks." I'd be falling right into Jas's hands… literally.

He smirked, having seen my want for a massage in my eyes. "Right." He patted to the spot between his legs. "Come on. I don't bite. Or, at least you won't let me," he scowled at his own reference to the fight earlier today.

I debated with myself for about five more seconds before giving in and sliding my butt to his pre-offered spot. A smile played on his lips at his small victory and he placed his hands on my shoulders, slowly rubbing them with his thumbs. They dug harder, working out the knots and I suppressed a moan at how good it felt, once I got past the initial pain. After my shoulders, he moved to my upper back, slowly down to mid and when he got to my lower back, I did in fact let out a soft sigh. "They're right. You do have magic hands."

I practically heard his ego grow with my words and he moved his hands to rest on my hips, rolling his thumbs in circles on them. I shivered at the close contact. The last time I had been touched like that had been in, well, a dream. And as much as Adrian's dreams seemed real, they weren't the same. It was exceptionally better if the said guy had a Russian accent. "I could show you much more magical things that I can do with my hands…," he suggested sexily.

"Mm, as tempting as that suggestion is, don't push your luck."

He laughed quietly. "You know you love it."

"No, I don't know that particular piece of information actually."

Using my hips, he pulled me against his chest and wrapped his arms around my stomach. "You sure? You know, we don't have to pretend to like each other. I'm more than happy to take it up a step and actually go out with you."

I pulled out of his embrace and stood up. "Now you're pushing it. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm not currently impressed with men."

He leaned back, hiding the sting of rejection on his face quickly. "Didn't seem too unimpressed just a minute ago."

I let out a heavy sigh and walked inside, closing the door behind me to come face to face with the Russian God of the house.

10 interesting facts about Jas:

He's actually on pretty good terms with his Moroi dad. He didn't use to but after his mom died when he was 9, his dad stepped in to make sure he and his little sister survived.

He's amazingly annoying

And persistant

And can't take "no" or "go the fuck away" as an answer

As much as it pains me to say it, he's actually a pretty good fighter. If not for my handy-dandy darkness, he might have beat me

He loves horse back riding

And something called "Manzana Lift", it's apple pop

After he graduated, top of his class, he decided he didn't want to be a guardian because he hated his assignment and refused to live in misery

He's actually got a nice side…

And is really hot. Not that I care.

**Sooo, what do you guys think? I still feel like crap today so once again, if there's something not up tomorrow, it's because I'm slowly dying in my bed. It took me a whole day to write this, bit by bit, so sorry if it's utter… crap.**

**Not much Dimitri, I know, but I figured I'd give you a taste for Jas, even if it epically failed. If anyone has some tips on fight scenes or accidental intimate scenes…? PM me.**

**Ever heard of Jeggings? They're jean leggings. Saw them today at the mall and had to get a pair. I still don't own a pair of skinnys, but I own Jeggings.**

**REVIEW! Or Jas might just decide to sneak into your room and do things with his magical hands. Get your head out of the gutter. You won't like these things.**


	12. Jas, I hate you

**Whooo! Guess you don't have to wait that extra day, eh?**

**Due to high demand, I put a lot of Dimitri in this chapter. **

**Only a little Jas. And you'll probably all send hate mail in his direction.**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead blah blah blah but I own Jas. So no touchy.**

I stopped myself just before I ran face first into a wall of brick-hard flesh. "Oh! Hi, Dimitri. You really shouldn't stand so directly in the doorway. Someone might get hurt."

He ignored my comment, instead fixing me with a stare. "So," he said, all nonchalant, "You've been hanging out with that Jas kid," he said Jas's name like 'Jazz'.

So, he's been spying on us. "It's Jay-zzz not Jazz. And why do you care?" I crossed my arms.

"I don't like him."

"Oh? Why don't you like him?" This ought to be good.

"I just don't like him." Brilliant, Dimitri. I thought you had a more creative lying spirit.

"So… you don't like him because… you just don't like him. Am I correct?"

"Yeah, basically. You shouldn't hang around with him." Oh, so he was telling me what to do now?

"You're not my mentor anymore, Dimitri. Stay out of business if it bothers you so much. If I want to hang out with Jas, I will." Guess I'm going to have to actually hang out with him now… damn spite.

"I may not be your mentor, but I am more experienced than you. Trust me, don't fraternize with the likes of him."

"Oh, you're more 'experienced' with Jas then? Please tell," I joked.

He rolled his eyes at me. "He's not reliable. You can't trust him."

"Unlike you, right?"

He looked away, raking a hand through his hair, which was down today, curling around his ears. Uber sexy. "Look, Ro-ach," he caught himself, looking back at me. "I'm sorry about what I said back there, okay? Emotions were running high and… if it got the message through than at least something good came out of it, right?"

I shook my head. "If 'something good' means me hating your guts, you shredding my heart and me finally getting that you're a total ass, then yes. Something good came out of it."

He looked guilty and slightly pained. Like it hurt to hear that I hated him. He nodded, looking like he was grasping for words. "Good." Right… "Well, just don't hang out with Jas. He makes his way around."

"I know those types. I used to be one, remember? It doesn't matter anyways. Once Sydney calls with some information, we have to head out." I shrugged, maybe now was a time to push my luck, "But if something does come out of it, maybe I'll invite him along." I bit back a smile at his shocked expression.

"How can you even think that? He knows you as 'Rach' not as Rose! He can't be trusted. You think he'll just come along with no explanation what-so-ever? We can't go out just giving that information away! It could get you killed!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "No need to overreact, Dimitri. Don't want to accidently act like you _care_." I moved to go around him, but he caught my arm and pushed me back against the door. My heart started pounding against my chest and moving upwards towards my throat. Breathing became suddenly harder, from the closeness to Dimitri's body, the tension growing between us, his scary dominance or the fact that his face just looked… scary, I can't be sure.

Dimitri's words came out in a growl, "Don't think that just because I don't _love_ you, doesn't mean I don't _care_."

"But only for Lissa, right? You only care about me because you know Lissa does." My voice was a little breathless and came out more of a wispy accusation than anything else.

His right hand shot beside my head, slapping the door behind me. The tremors increased my heart rate. What was he getting so pissed about? Did I finally find his button? "No! I care about you because you are you and I owe you so much after what I made you go through."

I stood a bit straighter, finding my full voice again and shoving my heart out of throat. "You _owe _me? I don't want your _pity _or your _guilt_," I spat. "I want you to care because you legitimately _care_."

He took in a deep breath, as if he was holding something in. "I do, Roza, I do." Calm and in control. But a tad breathless.

"Prove it," I whispered. "_Prove _it."

I took into account how close we were just then. His forehead hovered just centimetres away from mine and he looked into my eyes. One hand beside my head the other by my hip. Our legs barely touched but I felt the slight touch of his knee on my thigh. We stood there, just staring at each other for god knows how long. Our breath intermingled, his smelling of fresh mint. I wasn't sure if the expression on his face meant he wanted to hit me senseless or kiss me. His left hand gripped my forearm lightly, his fingers tracing tingling patterns on the back, making the hairs stand on end. Suddenly, Viktoria's plan didn't seem so unreasonable. In fact, it was working better than she probably thought. Who would have thought such a badass Guardian would succumb to jealousy so quickly? I waited for someone to yell "PHYCH!" but when no one did, I started to lean my forehead closer to his…

The door slammed against the back of my head, causing me to call out in shock and pain and Dimitri took a step back to lessen the impact of door plus Rose against Russian God. I looked behind me, glaring at the person responsible for the goose egg on the back of my head and the destroyer of the about to be best moment of my life.

Jas.

Oh, how I hated him at that moment.

"What the hell? Ever heard of knocking?"

"Well, after all that shouting, when things got suddenly quiet I was concerned for someone's safety." He looked over us, probably knowing what was just about to happen. He probably knew it when he opened the door too. "But it seems all is well." He sounded way too happy for a guy that suppose to _help _get me and Dimitri, er Dimitri and _I_, back together.

"Don't worry, I don't go down without a fight," Dimitri said, a pointed look at Jas. I caught the second meaning.

"Well, that's good. I know Rach doesn't either." Jas smiled at Dimitri, pretending he didn't just hear the possible threat, and then turned to me. "We still on for dinner tomorrow? I really can't wait."

Wait, what? I expressed my confusion, "What are you tal-,"

Viktoria burst down the stairs, "Ohhh! Rachy's got a date? Come on, we gotta pick out your outfit!" She grabbed my arm and started dragging me before I got in another word. And even if I did, the one person that I wanted to hear them wasn't there anymore. Seriously, there has to be a limit to how many times a guy can go out running in one day. Even for a Russian God.

XXX

"I thought the point of Jas was to get Dimitri and I together. Right now, I think he's bringing us apart," I complained as I watched Viktoria go through all my clothes and picking out all the ones Lissa had picked in the "Good Possibilities" pile.

"And why do you think that?" she asked, not even looking up from a pair of strappy heels.

I flopped onto my stomach, staring at her. "He totally ruined the moment we were having! I swear _he _was going to kiss _me_!"

She laughed and shook her head. "Dimka wouldn't give in that quickly. He held out for a hell of a long time when you were his student. I doubt his control is much different." She threw a lacy top into the "Good" pile. Along with a pair of Jeggings.

I groaned and rolled onto my back, looking at her upside down, my head over the edge of the bed. "I think he's on very thin ice with me, control wise, now that I've broken it once."

"Don't give him such little credit. Besides, he deserves to mull in the pain of jealousy. He let you roll in the pain of lost love. Rejection after hard labour."

I nodded, seeing her logic. "True. I think I like the way you think… but what if he changes his mind and actually, you know, gets over me?"

She chuckled. "Dimitri? Give up? No way. What guy did you fall in love with?" She had an answer for everything... just like Dimitri. "Now," she threw a bunch of clothes at me. "Try these on. I want to see if it looks good."

"Everything looks good on me."

"Don't get cocky with me."

XXX

I wasn't sure if I was happy or sad that Adrian was still ignoring me. It sure as hell made it easier to try to get Dimitri back but at the same time it made me sad that I lost such a good guy in my life. Even though I knew we'd have to part someday, I didn't think, or want, it to end this way. With me being disloyal. With me betraying him. Maybe, someday, he'll forgive me. But that might be harder. Anger was easier to deal with. Sometimes I wish I didn't have two guys fighting over my heart. Life would be so much easier if I had just focused all my time and energy into protecting Lissa. If I had just accepted my Dhampir fate and never fell in love. Twice. I wouldn't have gotten distracted.

I guess it's true what the Guardians say: Hesitation will kill you. Distraction may kill everyone.

Oh, hell. Does that mean I just condemned all the people I loved? Well, I already condemned Dimitri… and Mason… Two down, one to go. And then me. Heck, maybe I'll drag Lissa down with me.

I'm on a very depressing roll.

**This chapters shorter than they have been in a while because I spent so much time thinking of Dimitri's jealous rant that I forgot to think ahead... and I finished writing this at 11pm so I was too tired to continue Dx**

**Maybe if you review lots I'll make it longer… :D BRIBERY! (any fun ideas for Jas's and Rose's dinner...?)**

**And thanks for all the get well wishes! I think they may have worked since I am feeling better this morning :D But it's only 10:20 am so who knows, it might go downhill... O_o**

**xoxo Darla**


	13. Date Night

**I'm feeling s much better now guys! Woot woot! 3 cheers for my immune system!**

**Anyways, a shout out to NorahPora cause she made my day with her review :D**

**And as much as you guys want a DPOV and as much as I want to write one… it just wouldn't be "Last Sacrifice" if Dimitri's mind suddenly popped in. Maybe I'll make another fanfic of this in his POV? Maybe, I dunno :D Maybe, at the end, I'll do an extra chapter in his POV of your guys chapter choice. If you like the idea I'll put up a poll when this is near it's end.**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead and do not claim ownership over her charries, only Jas has-no-last-name**

"Can I refuse?" I asked as I was shoved back into the bathroom to change into Viktoria's chosen outfit. I'd hidden some clothes under the sink, knowing she'd lock my closet so I couldn't change into anything else. Of course, hiding clothes in the bathroom and changing into them rather than wear what Viktoria wanted me to wear only worked if she didn't see me after I put the clothes on. Which she did.

"Sure!" she said, sarcasm dripping off her words, "You can wear this or your birthday suit. Both are acceptable!" She slammed the door.

I sighed, pulling off my jeans and tank top. Picking up the short dress/long shirt, I debated stuffing it in the toilet but decided against it. Viktoria would probably make me wear it for revenge. I took a deep breath and pulled it over my head. The soft, thin fabric hung mid thigh and was a deep red, like the colour of dried blood. But less macabre. It hugged at the bottom, allowing the loose fabric to spill over it. The neck rested just below my shoulders and showed just a peak at the top of my chest. I tugged the black leggings on next, pulling, annoyed, at where they decided they wouldn't go any further without prompt. The leggings stopped just below my knees. At this point, the outfit was kind of plain, in my opinion. "Rach!" Viktoria screeched through the door, "You forgot your belllllt!" She opened the door a bit and threw it in, worried that I was naked or something. "You better be changing!" I rolled my eyes and picked the belt off the floor. It was a simple black and had a silver buckle on the side. I slid it over my legs and brought it around my hips, allowing it to hang on them lopsided. The belt completed the outfit. "You done yet? I still have to do your hair!" Honestly, she was putting a bit too much effort into a fake date.

I walked out, hand on hip, and gave a little pose as the door swung open in front of me. "Ta da! I don't need anything done to my hair, I look fabulous already!" Maybe if I buttered her up she'd lay off.

"Yes you do. I don't care how faboo you already look." Dang. She dragged me to a seat in front of the mirror and started brushing my hair and then pulled out a hair dryer, even though my hair was already dry, and started blowing my hair up to give it some messy volume. Then she used a straight iron to curl some strands around my face. And that was it.

"Is that it?" I asked, confused. Here I was, expecting some spectacular hair do and all I got was… volumized semi-curls?

"Yes. I'd do more but one: you could walk in there in your ragged jeans and pit-stained t-shirt and walk out with five guys on your arms. We've got you at half the restaurant at this stage. Let's not push it. Two: you're just suppose to be some Guardian on vacation. Not some badass with a gazillion Strigoi kills."

Okay… she had a point. She pulled out some eyeliner and eye shadow, applying only the minimum amounts of each... square. When she finally stepped out of my way to look at the mirror, I could almost swear she a replaced it with a window with a girl on the other side. I didn't usually put a lot of colour on my face since it just sweated off and left colourful smudges on my face but Viktoria did, lining my eyes with black eyeliner and a bit of every colour in what was probably called "night murder" colour scheme. Navy blues and smoky greys with bits of bright red covered my eyelids. Other than the eyes, she left my face clean. The colours worked very nicely with my eyes and dress, obviously trying to draw people's gazes toward my eyes.

She stood me up and tossed me a pair of strappy heels. The heels were low, thank god, but the straps took a while to get on. Viktoria made me stand in front of the mirror and I admired the finished project. I'll admit that I actually looked quite sexy. But I didn't want to look sexy for Jas… "Why bother putting me in this get up if I'm just going to be hanging out with Jas? Have you changed your mind on who you're trying to hook me up with?"

She shook her head, still smiling at how well she managed to dress me, "Dimitri's down stairs, waiting for his eyes to pop out of his head."

I chuckled. If only to see Dimitri's reaction, I started walking down the stairs when I heard the knock at the door that signified Jas was here to pick me up for our "date".

Dimitri was sitting on the couch, reading one of his western novels, his duster lying on the arm next to him. He looked up at the sound of my arrival and his eyes widened slightly, but other than that, his face stayed completely neutral. Slightly disappointed I walked over to him, swinging my hips. "Hey, Comrade, mind escorting me to the door?"

He bit him lip for a split second before answering, "I'm sure you can manage." I held back my glare. His mouth twitched.

"You do know that it's _polite _to escort a lady to the door, right?" I was sure Jas was about to break down the door with the amount of knocking he was doing.

"I know."

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion and then it dawned on me that he basically just said I wasn't a lady, "Hey! That's no-"

The door opened behind me and I abruptly shut up. Viktoria had opened the door after Jas's insistent knocking and he stood there now, sexy as ever in a white button-down shirt with a black tie. "You ready? Or are you trying to convince Belikov to lend you his duster? I don't recommend it. Doesn't match your stunning outfit." He held out his arm, "Come on. Don't want to be late for our reservation."

I held back a sigh and instead smiled, throwing all my charm into it. Maybe that'd teach Dimitri for his lack of emotion. You snooze you lose. I hooked my arm in Jas's and waved at Viktoria and Dimitri. "Bye guys!"

"Don't stay out too late!" Viktoria called back to me, holding back giggles at Dimitri's not-so-skillfully hidden pissed face. He stood up mumbling something about a bathroom and left the room, taking his duster with him.

We walked out into the cool night air, a breeze slightly lifting my hair. As we got further away from the house, Jas unhooked his arm from mine and placed it around my waist instead, pulling me close to his side. He brought his mouth to my ear and whispered, "You are really beautiful tonight."

I let myself smile. No point in staying angry at him if I was going to have to spend the night with him. "Thank you. And just so you know, I think the duster would have looked _wonderful _with my outfit."

He chuckled softly, not even bothering with an answer. The restaurant wasn't far of a walk and soon we arrived. Jas held the door open for me and I walked through, the tasty aromas of fancy food teasing my nostrils. My stomach grumbled loudly in response. "Very ladylike, Rach," he smiled. He walked past me and told the girl at the front his name and she showed us out table after checking we had a legit reservation.

When we approached the table, laden with a very nice rouge tablecloth, Jas pulled my chair out for me. "You're being very gentlemanly-like tonight. I'm impressed," I said once the waitress/table show-er girl was gone.

He smirked, sitting down across from me and making sure he held my hand. "What's the fun in being a jerk?"

I glared at him. "You do a good job of it yourself. You tell me."

He shook his head, still smiling. "Maybe I've given up trying to help you get together with your tall Russian guy. Maybe I want to try and get you to give me a shot."

Now it was my turn to smirk. "Sorry, but I've already got enough guys on my plate at the moment, thanks."

That surprised him. "So, wait. You have more than Belikov?" His grip on my hand slackened.

"Yeah. A moroi. We had an argument not too long ago and he's not speaking to me right now but yeah… He's been my boyfriend for a while."

He looked sceptical. "A moroi? You sure that's the best choice?" Ugh, why does every guy think the Dhampir has to be a bloodwhore to date a moroi guy?

"Yes. He treats me well. If it makes you feel any better, we haven't had sex or anything." I didn't mention that that was only because we didn't have condoms…

That seemed to make him feel better. "Well, let's move to a different topic. See anything on the menu that you like?"

I looked down, agreeing to drop the topic. Talking about guys with a guy? Not really a good idea. Especially if you're suppose to be on a date. I flipped through the menu, looking at random foods and I felt the sensation of being watched on the back of my neck. I felt no nausea so it wasn't a Strigoi but I looked behind me to check anyways. There were couples chatting happily, waiters and waitresses running around but nothing out of the ordinary. I looked back at my menu, not wanting to startle Jas, but my appetite had disappeared. My stomach growled again in defiance. Finally, I just picked a random burger, just as our waiter walked up to the table. He had short, floppy, brown hair and had dimples when he smiled. He looked to be about 17. Probably still in school. "Hi, I'm Ben, your waiter for tonight. Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked with a heavy Russian accent.

"Umm, iced tea?" I ordered.

Jas ordered some drink with a Russian name. Damn locals.

He scribbled them down in his notebook. "Are you ready to order?"

We nodded and gave the names of our food choices. Mine a burger, Jas's something in Russian again.

"Can I get you anything else?" Ben asked me. Was it just me or was there a double meaning?

"No thank you."

When he walked away, slightly disappointed, I asked Jas, "Okay, what the hell did you order?"

He gave me a look, "How long did you say you had been here for?" He rolled his eyes, not waiting for an answer. "Pelmeni. They're pastry dumplings filled with meatballs. I can't believe you've never heard of it."

"I've heard of it…" Actually, no, I hadn't. "I just missed it in all your… Russian nonsense." Dimitri would have beat me right then and there had he heard me say that. In fact, I did feel an angry glare on the back of my neck but, once again, when I looked behind me, there was nothing.

He laughed. "All I said was 'Pelmeni please.' Admit it, you just don't know what it is."

I sighed. "Fine, I don't. Don't judge me."

He rolled his eyes and tapped my foot with his. I glared at him and tapped his back. Smiling, he gave it a light kick, which I returned. Within no time it was a full war game of footsies. The last time I had played footsies had been with Mason when we were in grade 8. With him though, it had eventually turned into legsies… then armsies. We had bruises on our thighs for weeks afterwards. The longer the footsies went on, the stronger the feeling of being watched became. Honestly, it felt like someone was glaring a hole through my neck. I turned full round, abruptly stopping our game and scanned the crowd. I looked at every face, every corner, every door. From the corner of my eye, by the bathrooms, I saw a flashing glimpse of a long jacket, a duster perhaps, escaping behind a door and the sensation dropped. "What's wrong?" Jas asked?

I glared at where the person disappeared. "Nothing…" I turned back around. It wasn't as if I could go trampizing through the men's washroom. Besides, if it was who I hoped it was, maybe I wanted him to watch a bit more... and because a bit more jealous. Maybe I'd get a replay of yesterday, without the interruption. Sometime throughout our game, our drinks had appeared. Jas's looked suspiciously like Russian vodka. "Did you get vodka? Seriously?"

He looked sheepish. "Maybe…"

I wrapped my mouth around my straw and rolled my eyes. Not long afterwards, our food arrived and my stomach took the grumbling up a notch. Ben smiled at me as he placed my burger in front of me but I ignored him as I immediately took a big bite from it. Jas looked at me with humour in his eyes, like he was holding back laughter. "You hungry?"

"Maybe…"

He rolled his eyes at me a stuck some of his 'Pelmeni' in his mouth. "You wanna try some?" he offered, a piece on his fork.

I shrugged, "Okay." Who was I to deny food? Ignoring the fact that sharing a fork was as good as kissing him, I quickly grabbed the piece off with my teeth. It tasted… good. **(I've never tried Pelmeni so I cannot explain how it tastes… let just say it's meaty Russian goodness?)**

He smiled at my satisfied face. "Maybe you should add 'pelmeni' to your Russian vocabulary list. If you have one that is." I glared, taking another bite of my burger. "I could teach you… staring with 'Oh, Jas, how I want you' or 'my bed or yours?'" Maybe if I ate fast we could leave sooner and I would get rid of him faster. "Then, once past the beginner suggestions, we could move to 'harder' and 'I love you'." Eating like a starved penguin, I stuffed the last piece of my burger in my mouth. He smirked, chewing slowly. "If you're so excited, we can just skip the Russian altogether. English is perfectly acceptable." I stood up suddenly, spinning around on my heel. "Or not!" He said quickly, catching the murderous scowl on my face. He reached for my arm but I held a hand up.

"One sec. I'll be back, I promise." Leaving him in his stunned silence I moved swiftly towards where I had now pinpointed my spy's position. The way he sat, the way he breathed, the way he moved, was so familiar to me now that, even from the back, I knew who it was. Walking into the bar section of the restaurant, I spun the bar stool he was sitting on and came face to face with Dimitri. "What the hell?" At first the whole spying thing had been fun but now it was just… annoying.

His face showed pure innocence. "Rach? What are you doing here? I thought you were on a date with Jazz?"

I ignored the mispronunciation. "Why are you spying on us?" No shit with me tonight.

Knowing he was caught he said, "I told you I didn't like you hanging with him."

"Yeah, but you didn't say anything about spying."

"I'm not spying, I'm chaperoning… from a distance."

"And _why_?"

"To make sure he doesn't try anything."

"And you don't think I could take him?"

"I know you can. I'm just back-up."

"No," a smile played at my lips, "you're just jealous. Of Jas."

Horror washed over his face but it was gone in microseconds. "No. Just worried for your wellbeing."

"Mhmmm. Well then, Dimitri, just so you know, a little jealousy is healthy if properly dealt with. Denial is not the way."

He glared at my playful tone. "I'm not jealous."

"Then what are you? And don't say worried. You know how badass I am. You taught me how to be."

"Just keeping an eye on you. People here aren't too conservative with they're hands if they see something they like."

"And I can't take them, either?"

He sighed. "Just drop it, Rach." He hated me new name. I could hear it in his voice when he said it. Or maybe it was just me. "Go enjoy your evening."

"Fine. Just know that you've lost your ninja touch when it comes to me." I turned around and sat back with Jas, instantly bringing up the topic of dessert so that the impending questions could be answered over something I loved most. But I must admit, I was touched by his 'concern'.

After dessert, Jas paid the bill and we walked home. The stars were out, giving the walk an intimate feel to it. The air was still now and a bit cooler than before. The whole way, Jas's arm was around my waist, refusing to let go. The rocks on the ground crunched beneath my heels and the moon lightly illuminated everything. It gave Jas's hair a particular glow to it with the light bouncing off. He walked me to the door and moved in front of me, sliding his hand to my hip. "This was fun, Rach. We should do it again."

"Yeah. Just no Russian lessons. Unless you're teaching me swear words." I had yet to get Dimitri to teach them to me.

He smiled. "No promises." He leaned down, bringing his face closer to mine. Too late, I knew what he was trying to do and I had no idea if I wanted him to do it or not. Knowing Dimitri was probably out there somewhere, watching, made up my mind. Just make him jealous, Rose. That's the whole point. This is perfectly fine, right? I tilted my head up to meet his. But before our lips could meet someone cleared their throat loudly. I looked over to see a pissed off Russian God standing behind us. Jas looked over too. "Um, interrupt much?"

"It's time for Rach to go to bed."

Jas smirked, laughter threatening. I rolled my eyes. "Guess it's good bye, Jas. It's my bed time," I, too, held back laughter at that term. "See you… later." Or not. Did I want to?

"Okay, good-night, my sweet." He lightly kissed my lips, to rub it in Dimitri's face no doubt, and hopped off the step, waving as he ran back to his house.

Once Jas had disappeared into the distance, I looked at Dimitri and sighed. "Jealous bastard."

Dimitri only dignified me with an eye roll before opening the door for me to walk through. "Good night, Rose."

**Good? Bad? How come every time Rose talks to Dimitri it's an argument? No such thing as conversations with those two anymore. **

**This chapter is longer than the last couple (and all) so be happy!**

**Let's try and get everyone who reads to review? What do you think? Can you take the 1 minute to say "I love the story" or "ZOMG Darla I love youuuuuuu, screw Dimitri" or for you keeners out there, "You know what would make you're story better? If _" **

**:D Reviews make Darla happy and make it easier for her to write. Especially if you give ideas to kick her mind into action….**


	14. Damn it

**Okay, I LOVE you guys. I got home after an excruciating day helping my aunt move and when I checked my inbox I was like "OMG! A gazillion new messages? OMG!" Seriously, I loved all the reviews I got O_o And sorry I didn't reply to well, most of them. I just got too carried away with reading them all :D**

**I'm glad you all loved the last chapter so I'll try and make this one uber great too in hopes of more happy reviews (I've got over a 100 now!)**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead. I only own Jas and shall not sell him. Unless Dimitri is in the price…**

I was lying on the couch, debating between getting up to go running in such a tired state or sit staring at the ceiling. It was two am and I couldn't sleep. What the hell? I threw my feet over the edge of the couch and grabbed my runners. My mind was spinning. I kept asking myself how far I would have gone with Jas if Dimitri had not interrupted us. I didn't like to think of myself as a slut but the thought that I would have gone as far as I needed to get back at Dimitri still burned inside me. I wrapped my hand around the doorknob, pulled the door open and almost screamed. Jas was standing right in front of the door with his hand up in a fist like he was about to knock. "What are you doing here?" I whispered/hissed.

"I was coming to see you," he whispered back truthfully.

"At two am?"

"Well… I figured your Russian guy wouldn't interrupt us at this time…"

So, he had been thinking the same thing as I had. Well, probably a bit different… I rolled my eyes at him and felt a cool breeze come into the house. I shivered. "What to come in? Feels chilly out there."

He happily obliged, stepping inside and pulling me with him to the couch. He sat down and pulled me on top of him, wrapping his arms around my waist. "You know, we didn't get to finish on the step earlier. Where did we leave off exactly?"

I smiled at his flirtation. Should I even bother with this while Dimitri wasn't around? Well, he was upstairs but he wouldn't be coming down. There was no chance to make Dimitri jealous with this, no excuse to actually go on with Jas. "What are you trying to do, Jas? You can't make Dimitri jealous at two in the morning."

He smiled sadly. "How many times do I have to tell you I don't care about Dimitri anymore? I'm more than happy to suffice with you, original mission failed." He pulled me closer and pressed his lips against mine. I responded automatically, twining my hands in his hair. I sucked in a breath through my nose, already feeling breathless. This wasn't like kissing Dimitri, not as much fire, not like kissing Adrian, not as much love, but it was nice. I didn't have any promises to keep. I wasn't making any right now. I knew that I was going to be leaving soon, or as soon as Sydney called, so I didn't feel too guilty about succumbing. His hands went down and under my shirt, gliding his hands across the smooth skin of my back. One of my hands explored his chest, feeling the hard muscles under his shirt. He moaned at my touch, giving me full access to his mouth. I slipped my tongue in, exploring this new part of him. Jas pulled my legs hard around his hips, making us closer still. Heat burned between us as his shirt suddenly disappeared, shortly followed by mine. He grabbed me, pushing me down onto the couch and crawling on top, are lips not once losing contact. I moaned at the sudden new position and used my legs to pull him close. My hands traveled down his back, along his sides, through his hair. His hands felt my butt, my legs. Heat, pressure, pleasure. It felt nice to finally let loose, knowing there couldn't be any consequences with someone I probably wouldn't see much longer and then never again.

And then it was all gone, my bare skin taking assault to the sudden absence of Jas's body heat.

I opened my eyes to ask what happened to find him in a headlock. With Dimitri. His arms muscles bulged sexily, his face contorted in anger. Why did this remind me so heavily of the Jesse incident?

"Woah! Dimitri! You're chocking him!" Jas's face was turning an unattractive shade of purple.

"That's the goal," Dimitri grunted. Jas gave a little squeal and started thrashing, attempting the manoeuvre to get out of headlocks but Dimitri was too strong.

I jumped up, grabbing hold of Dimitri's hands and trying to release his grasp. I couldn't have him _killing _Jas. His fingers didn't budge. "Dimitri! Let go! Now!" He locked eyes with me for a second and dropped Jas. Jas fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Y-you're nuts," he breathed. "Absolutely… _insane_."

Dimitri picked him up by the collar and I was about to jump up again but Dimitri just opened the door, throwing Jas out like yesterday's garbage. He turned around, silent, and headed towards the stairs. I grabbed him arm. "What. The. _Hell?_" I asked, quietly shrieking. I was actually surprised this had all taken down in a house full of Dhampirs and no one had come to help.

"I could ask you the same thing. Why were you making out with street scum on my family's couch?" He crossed his arms to make himself look all intimidating. It worked.

I threw my hands up in the air. "I have the right to! How did you even know I was down here? You spying again?" I asked the last one playfully, trying to ease the tension.

"I couldn't sleep and I heard the door open, talking and then some loud moaning. I figured you might be in pain." Well, that's embarrassing.

"Well, I wasn't."

"Obviously. And you might want to put your shirt on."

I looked down to see that I was still topless. At least I still had my bra on. Or maybe that was unfortunate. "Why? Feel as if you can't hold back? You don't have to you know."

"I just saw another guy all over you. Trust me, I'm not turned on." Hahahaha. Ouch.

I glared at him, pulling my shirt on and then I was out the door, running.

**XXX**

In. Out. In. Out. I'd been running for a good three hours now, trying to get rid of some of the energy that was getting my nerves all wound up and jittery. The whole Jas and Dimitri thing was getting me all pissed, every time I thought about it. Why couldn't Jas just keep his hands to himself? Why was Dimitri such a bastard? It felt good releasing all that energy despite the fact that I was totally toasted and ready to hit the sack. I turned around, heading back to the house, the ground crunching loudly in the quiet of the early morning. The air still held the chill of the night as I ran quickly, no longer worrying about conserving my energy. The moment I walked through those doors, I would be falling upon my bed and sleeping 'till next week. Well, that was my plan anyways.

I rounded the corner onto the house's street and saw a couple figures that looked suspiciously like Dimitri and Jas standing there in defensive stances, like they were about to fight. I put on a burst of speed, ramming myself in between the two of them. "Okay guys! No piss fights!" I placed a hand on each of their chests and they eased up, fractionally. I didn't need anymore headlock scenarios.

"Rose," Dimtri growled, "get out of the way." He kept his eyes on Jas and too late realized his slip.

Jas raised an eyebrow. "Rose? Thought it was Rach." He flicked his eyes at me, not wanting to give Dimitri an opening to attack.

I used the story I had used earlier for the cashier. "Rose is my middle name. I had gone by it for a while and finally switched back to my first. Now, _what the hell is going on?_" I hadn't shifted from my position. The warmth from their over puffed chests felt nice on my cool ones.

Jas looked like he wanted to continue that conversation on my name but Dimitri cut in. "_Jazz, _here, was telling me just what his goals were to do with you. They didn't make me like him any more than I already don't." After hearing Jas last night, I wasn't surprised. This morning probably didn't help.

"Hey! I have the right to fantasize. She is basically my girlfriend." I held back an eye roll.

"And you're defending my honour?" I asked Dimitri, slightly shocked.

"In a brotherly way," he said quickly.

"So, have you slept with any of your other sisters?"

Everything became very quiet.

Jas whistled. "Low blow. Wait, you slept with him? I thought you hadn't slept with any of your boyfriends. I didn't even know he had been your boyfriend."

Whatever man-pride fight that had been going on before was forgotten, now replaced with Jas's jealousy and Dimitri's attempt to stay as neutral as possible.

I rolled my eyes at Jas, crossing my arms defensively. "I only said that about Adrian. And Dimitri wasn't my technically my boyfriend… Know what, nevermind. Just, nevermind." Once again, not a topic I wanted to get into with him. If he had too much legit information on me, it might help in some sort of identification… not that anyone knew I had slept with Dimitri or anything… I think. And I didn't think Jas would kill me…

Jas glared at me. How could he be angry with me? He knew that the whole point of his role was to get Dimitri and me back together. This morning not withstanding. "Fine. As long as you aren't sleeping with him anymore I guess I can accept that… But forgive? Not until you do the same with me," he gave me a wicked smile and raised his eyebrows suggestively. I sighed, hitting him in the back of the head before walking into the house. Before closing the door though, I yelled behind me, "No more piss fights!"

I pulled off my shoes, flopping onto the couch, stomach down. I buried my face into the cushion, trying to drown out the noise of talking down the hall. I fell into a half sleep, something inside me refusing to allow me rest at this time of day, especially when an instinct was saying something was wrong. Something. It quieted down and I fell into a slightly deeper slumber, turning onto my back. Tired images swirled around my head. I faintly heard the soft tapping of someone walking towards me and then a feeling of being watched replaced the noise. Too tired, I didn't move or make any motions of me knowing they were there. I heard a creak of the floorboards as the person shifted their body weight. Warm breath misted on my cheek and I felt soft lips press against my forehead, my nose, my chin, everywhere but my lips. Fingers caressed my cheek, supposedly pushing some hair behind my ears. The fingers then lightly traced my lips, sending butterflies into a frenzy within my stomach. I wanted to open my eyes but feared it was all a dream and I would make it all disappear if I did. Gentle pressure pressed on my lips as the exquisite smell of Dimitri's aftershave filled my nose. Something lightly tickled my cheek. Hair, I decided. I felt him smile against my lips and heard a faint whisper that sounded like 'Revenge'. My breathing speeded up just slightly and my lips parted fractionally but my dream pulled away, walked away. Damn.

I groaned, sitting up just as Viktoria crashed into the living room. "Rach! There's a Guardian here telling everyone that they're holding a community meeting in an hour. Everyone is to attend. Get your ass up."

I glared. "What's it about?" I asked sleepily. "I'm tired as hell."

She shrugged. "Everyone who doesn't attend shall be charged with avoiding justice… or something along those lines." She pointed upstairs, "Get up and look decent."

Okay, something was definitely wrong, but I had no idea what it was.

I pulled myself up into a sitting position and walked up stairs where I immediately pulled my sweaty running clothes off, tossing them across the room into my hamper. I walked into the bathroom and stood under the shower, somehow cutting my shower to twenty-five minutes. I dried my hair, leaving it down, and pulled on some clothing I had gotten with Viktoria. Clothes that were un-Rose-like but still sexy. I jammed my glasses on, not even bothering with make up. The lack of sleep was catching up with me and I just couldn't fathom the idea of holding a stick to my eye. I probably didn't even have the motor control at this point. I stumbled down the stairs. This meeting had better be damned important, or I'm going to kill someone.

Everyone was sitting in the living room, waiting for me I assumed. I yawned loudly and held out my arms to Dimitri. "Carry me, Comrade."

"You have legs," he retorted. But I could see something sparkle in his eyes.

I 'humphed' and walked over to him, my eyes sagging closed slightly. "Only this far. From here," I flopped onto the couch, "my legs are out of order till further notice." I let my eyes close.

"Ugh, get up." I hadn't noticed that I'd flopped on his legs.

"My bad," I smiled.

"Rach. Get. Up. Now." His tone was menacing.

"Fine! Only if you carry me though."

I felt strong arms underneath me. Victory! And then I tumbled back down to the floor with a loud thump. "There. I carried you to the door."

"Rachhhhh, let's go. It starts in like, five minutes." Viktoria hauled me up to my feet and pushed me out the door. Sucking up my fatigue, I started walking. A hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"If you're not going to let me go, I won't."

"Wrong way." I turned to see a smiling Dimitri in front of me and the rest of his family walking away from us.

"Oh." I walked in the direction of the Belikov's, Dimitri by my side. "I was having the weirdest dream before Viktoria woke me up." I looked out of peripheral to see if Dimitri reacted in any way. I so didn't want it to be a dream.

His face stayed neutral. "Weird?"

"Not weird in a bad way, but weird in the fact that I hadn't had a dream like it for a while. It was nice."

"You going to tell me what it was about?"

"Nope. But it made me extremely happy." Really, really effing happy.

"I recently had a dream that resembled your… adjectives."

"Oh? You going to tell me what it was about?"

"Nope." I smiled as he threw my word back at me. "Though I'm not so certain it was a dream anymore." Cause it wasn't…

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Too realistic."

"Same."

We walked the rest of the way in silence, following 'our' family. They really had become my family all over again. Soon, I heard the noise that followed big crowds and then we saw them all. The whole community was standing in a field around a raised podium. On that podium was a Guardian… a royal Guardian at that. I recognised him as one of the Queen's personal Guardians. Oh shit. Oh shitty shit shit. I gripped Dimitri's arm but he had the same look of shock and panic on his face as I had. "We should run," he whispered almost inaudibly in my ear.

I shook my head. "Too suspicious. Let's just blend in with the crowd. There's lots of people here and maybe they aren't looking for us…" Yeah, and why else would they be here? To offer their sincerest regards to a community that they never cared about before?

He nodded, still not wanting to stay but agreeing to my command nonetheless.

We navigated the crowd, holding hands as to not get separated. We spotted Olena and walked up beside her. Her face, too, was tense with agitation. Yeva looked at us, not saying anything. I was about to ask her weither we should leave or not but the Guardian started speaking, er, yelling, for everyone to quiet down. Everyone complied, stopping their conversations and questions for the while. The Guardian waited a few more moments before starting to talk, loudly, to the crowd. "Thank you, everyone, for gathering here at such short notice." Not that you didn't threaten those who didn't show up or anything… "We have a very important issue to pose today. A woman, who was supposed to be on trial for the murder of Queen Tatiana a few days ago, is still loose. She is dangerous, smart and lethal to everyone who interacts and crosses her. If anyone has seen, spoken to, knows that Rosemarie Hathaway has passed through here, or is still present here, please step forward with your information. If anyone is caught withholding such information or has helped her, knowing her identity, you will be charged with obstructing law and be granted the title of her accomplice. If, Rose Hathaway, you are present, I suggest revealing yourself now and face lesser consequences than those if you continue to hide and we find you. There is no running away, no hiding from us." A shiver of fear rippled through my body and I squeezed Dimitri's hand tighter. At least everyone here knew me as Rach, not Rose. However, a few people here, including Jas, knew that I used to go by Rose. Maybe they wouldn't make the connection. The Guardians eyes swept the crowd, not pausing at my face, thank god, and then nodded, motioning that his speech was complete. Why hadn't they mentioned Dimitri?

The crowd erupted in noise once again and started to slowly disperse, some people looking at me with curious eyes, probably starting to make connections of the used-to-be-Rose-now-Rach. I looked down at the ground, trying to hide my face from the on-lookers. We had to leave.

Dimitri and I ran back to the house, still clutching to each other, and tumbled in through the door. We were both breathing heavily though not from the running. This was sere panic. "What do we do?" I squeaked. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins, pushing out my exhaustion but it didn't help my brain think any clearer.

He took a few more deep breaths before answering. "We have to split, but not today. We have to wait it out a few days, stay hidden. They'll be watching for any abrupt leaves. I don't know how, or why, but they know you're here. Or at least suspect it. Why would they think you're in Russia?"

"Because you're with me. And after being Strigoi, they knew you'd want to come back. The question is, why didn't they mention you?"

He shook his head, cursing to himself in Russian. "I'm the reason you might get caught. You're in danger because of _me._" He swore again. He let go of my hand, leaving it in the cold, and raked both of his hands through his hair in frustration. "_Damn it_. Why hasn't Sydney called yet? We need her to tell us where to go!" He grabbed my phone out of my jean pocket, causing butterflies to flap away from his closeness, and checked for any missed calls. There were none, I knew. I had been checking every five minutes for the past few days. He grunted. "We'll just have to go, anywhere. We stay for a couple more days. I hope that they'll be gone by then. Hopefully they won't search any houses. But they'll probably check mine anyways, since this is my family's. Damn it. I'm the danger again." He turned in front of me, gripping my shoulders. I winced at his strong grip. "You need to go, without me. If they come and see me here I can say I left because I couldn't stand being away from my family any longer. I can say I didn't see you. My family won't tell. After they leave, I'll find you."

I shook my head, breaking out of his grip. "No, Dimitri. You think that after going through hell itself to get you back I'm just going to _leave? _Don't kid yourself. It's not going to happen." I crossed my arms. "We leave together."

I looked like he was going to argue for a moment but then decided against it, knowing how stubborn I could be when I wanted to be. "Fine. But, stay low. Don't draw attention to yourself and _please _stay away from Jas." I wanted to think that was just from jealousy but I could hear legitimate concern and seriousness behind it. I nodded. "Good." He let out of a breath of relief, happy I hadn't argued that point.

"So, two days. Stay low, get out." He nodded. Plan complete, we collapsed on the couch simultaneously just as the rest of the Belikovs walked in, accompanied by Jas.

They all sat down, expertly hiding any worry or apprehension from their faces with Jas around. Everyone acted like nothing was wrong while my insides broiled and burned with a fear I hadn't felt in a long time. I hadn't felt this fear when I lost the first 'trial', not this fear when in jail or escaping it. I hadn't even felt this when running for my life from Dimitri the Strigoi. Was being caught by pissed Guardians really that much scarier than being locked in a building full of bloodthirsty Strigoi? Viktoria squeezed my hand. With that little bit of pressure, the adrenaline started leaving my system and I felt really drowsy. "I got to get to bed…" I mumbled before heading, er, stumbling, up the stairs, only to make it to the third step before strong arms scooped me up. I fell asleep in the embrace of a God.

**I'll be honest, I did not see this coming. And I'm the one that wrote it. **

**So, what do you guys think is going to happen? How'd they find out where Rose is? Do they really even know she's there? Why didn't they ask for Dimitri? Will the Guardians check their house?**

**-takes dramatic breath- Guess you'll have to wait… but you can still make guesses in the reviews xD **

**Revieeeeewwww pleeeeese. I gave you an RxJ **_**and**_** RxD moment, you owe me.**


	15. Betrayals

**I'm kind of shocked none of you correctly guessed who sold Rose and Dimitri out... Well, good try :D They were entertaining nonetheless :D**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead and do not own VA. Or Dimitri. Sadly. I only own Jas and whatever ideas I think up to torture Mead's characters.**

"_The Guardians we dispatched to Baia, Russia have made it safely. They have made it known they are looking for Hathaway and given her the option to turn herself in. No further news." Lissa heart was beating frantically against her chest as she listened through the door, eavesdropping. It was wrong, she knew, but she had to know what important news was being given today and she had been kicked out… They had found Rose? Was she safe? Who told them where she was? _

"_Good. Has Lord Ivashkov given any more information?"_ Adrian? Adrian _sold Rose out?_

"_No. He seems quite upset that he let slip the first bit. He refuses to speak anymore."_

"_Shall he be thrown in jail for withholding vital information on the recapturing of a dangerous villain?"_

"_His father would be most outraged. No one wants an Ivashkov so closely related to Tatiana in jail… It would cause a scandal and rumours about him being the murderer. We can't allow that."_

"_Very true. Dismissed."_

_Lissa, holding her breath, ran behind a corner and watched the back of the Guardian as he walked away. _

_She was absolutely furious with Adrian as she hunted him out. She was going to confront him and then kill him for betraying her and Rose's trust. How could he? He loved Rose. Or had the most recent stunt that Rise pulled with Dimitri really crossed the line so far as to causing Adrian to hate her? They said that he was still upset about it though. Anger clouded her vision as she thought about what could be happening to Rose because of Adrian. They didn't say anything about capturing her so maybe they had left Russia already or are just hiding really well. At least she got them to drop the idea of Dimitri helping her. She and Adrian had convinced the council that Dimitri had gone to visit his family, having missed them and realizing how short life was. Lissa had given him permission to leave and he would be gone 'till further notice. He had no hand in Rose's escape._

_She walked up to Adrian's door, pounding loudly. She continued pounding until the door swung open to a very tousled and bloodshot Adrian. Lissa pushed her way into his room walking past him and then angrily turning on her heel to face him. He silently shut the door and then started to speak, "Look, Liss-"_

"_No, _you _look, Adrian. I can't believe you'd do that to Rose! No matter how angry or upset you are with Rose, she still trusted you! With her _life_. I hope you are aware that that is what you may have cost her. Mind to explain why you've suddenly lost your brain?" Darkness was building inside her but she bit it back. _

_He took a shaky breath, looking like he really needed a smoke but was holding back. "I-I had gotten upset. So I did what I normally did when emotions ran too high for me to handle. I got drunk. Really hammered. I was out in the bar, talking to some people. I don't even remember who I was talking to, all I knew was that I wanted to tell someone why I was so pissed. I wanted to unload, to share my misery with someone. I don't know. I started talking about how I wanted to march over to Baia right then, knock some sense into Rose, and then throw Dimitri over a bridge that he wouldn't get up from. Well, turned out the guy I was talking to was a Guardian, the lead Guardian in the search for Rose at that. He immediately called together a meeting and started to make a plan to go. It took them a while to get the say so since taking so many Guardians leaving might endanger the occupants of the Court and leave others feeling restless with such a brutal murder still so fresh. _

_I didn't mean to, I swear. I would never sell Rose out on purpose, no matter how betrayed I felt by her. I love her, I always will, no matter how much it hurts to know I'll never fully have her heart. I wish I could take my words back. But I can't. All I can do now is stay sober to make sure it doesn't happen again." His voice broke at the end as he held back tears that were threatening to fall._

_Lissa's heart poured with compassion, anger now residing. She walked up to Adrian, pulling him into a hug. "It's okay, Adrian, I'm sure they're safe. No one can take Rose down without a fight. And she'll be absolutely safe with Dimitri. No matter how much you want to throw him over a bridge, he's one of the best and cares about Rose."_

_He nodded sadly, holding onto her tightly. "I know."_

I awoke in a cold sweat. I had been in Lissa's head, watching her. I took in a shaky breath, still not quite believing what I had just heard, what I'd just seen. I couldn't believe _Adrian _of all people. And it was all my fault. I had gotten him upset which had gotten him drunk. All my stupid fault. Dimitri had been talking about how he was the danger to me when the opposite was true. I was with only one to blame for me situation. If I'd held back, kept my hands to myself, kept my mouth shut, everything would be okay. Ughhh.

I pushed myself up, no longer able to bear my thoughts. I wasn't able to go running while the Guardians were here. I'd have to find some sort of release inside. This sucks. I went into the bathroom and had a long, hot shower. The water burned my skin, making my mind pay attention to my screaming skin rather than my thoughts. Soon though, my skin became used to it and my muscles started to loosen, not that it did much good for my anger and hatred at myself. The sweet smell of violets filled my senses as I squirted some shampoo into my hand and worked it through my hair, washing the guilt away. I rinsed it out, replacing it with hair-dye conditioner. While it was soaking into my hair, I lathered my legs with soap and shaved them. Conditioner gone, I stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around me.

I walked out of the bathroom and back into Viktoria's room, pulling on some sweats and a tank. Knowing I was going to be leaving soon, I started shoving some clothes and other necessities into my duffel bag since I wasn't going to be able to take my suitcase while on the run. The duffel bag was smaller and made of canvas-like cloth but that meant it would lighter, since it wouldn't take as much stuff. And I could turn it into a makeshift backpack if I needed to. I sighed, leaning my head against the wall and looking at Viktoria's empty bed. Guess she was at school. **(Let's not kill me if Viktoria's suppose to have graduated already. I don't know if she is still in school or not O_o)**

I looked at the clock. 10 am, human time. I should probably get some breakfast. My stomach loudly agreed with me. I trotted down the stairs. Dimitri and Olena were sitting at the table, talking. I entered with a quick wave and "Hi," before grabbing myself a bowl of cereal and an apple. I sat down beside Dimitri. "So, what's on the schedule besides slowly dying inside the house?"

"Avoid going outside."

"Oh, that's sounds _fun_," I said sarcastically.

"Better than the alternative."

"How the hell am I supposed to exercise?"

"You can help me clean," Olena said, popping into the conversation. "I have to do all the floors and bathrooms today."

I sighed. "I think I'll just become a vegetable, slowly wilting."

Dimitri laughed at my defeated face. "There, there. I'm sure you'll find something to do. You always do."

Yeah… but they always involved you… and inappropriate situations. I shrugged, spooning in some cheerios.

He rolled his eyes, as if reading my thoughts. "It's just for a few days, and then you can run free like the animal you are."

"Hey!" I held my spoon in an offensive position, about to hit him with it, when Yeva came crashing in.

"They are coming to check the house! They know Rose is here. Leave. Now. You have 10 minutes before they arrive." Dimitri and I shot out of our seats before she even finished talking, scrambling around, grabbing our things. I threw my duffel bag over my shoulder, jammed my cell into my pocket and shoved my glasses onto my face. All my needed clothes were already packed, money included, so all I needed to do was put my shoes on and run like hell.

I ran back down the stairs, quickly shoving the rest of my cheerios in my mouth before Olena took it away to erase any evidence of me being here. She tossed me a water bottle and energy bar for the road, gave me a quick hug, and then Dimitri and I were heading to the door, only to be stopped by a knock at the front door. We looked at each other with 'Oh shit faces' before running to the back door.

We peaked through the window before opening the door, only to find a couple Guardians keeping watch there. Our last option left, we ran for the window facing the side of the house, any view obscured by the house next door. Dimitri checked for any Guardians and gave me the all clear thumbs up. He silently pushed it open and motioned for me to come closer. It was two feet high and three feet long. It was small, almost unbearably so, but we had to find a way to squeeze. It would be easy for me, but Dimitri would have to suck in, a lot. Maybe lose a few pounds of muscle. He cupped his hands and I stepped on them, giving myself the boost I needed to reach the window and slid through, landing in a handstand that quickly turned into a backwards summersault to avoid breaking my arms. Mine and Dimitri's bags followed. Dimitri's body soon appeared in the window, though he seemed to be struggling in the chest area. Funny, I thought my chest was bigger than his… though mine was able to be painfully squished out of the way. His, on the other hand, was hard rock. I grabbed one of his hands and started pulling while his other pushed. We heard shouting from inside the house and a few shrieks followed by the loud thumping of Guardians running all over the house, looking for us. Sweat broke out across by forehead and I pulled harder, trying not to make any noise. Dimitri held in any groans and curses and after many agonizing moments, more so for him, we finally squeezed him through. Dimitri would have a nice bruise there tomorrow. He landed the same as I did and, after shoulder checking the corner for anyone still outside, made a run for the car. A Guardian standing watch on the front door looked at us with alarm before saying something into his earpiece.

We jumped into the car and Dimitri tried to start it, urging it silently until it roared to life. Once it was purring, he pulled out and sped down the road as fast as he could go without possibly making the car overheat and die. In the rear view mirror, I could see at least a dozen Guardians coming after us, a mysterious blonde man standing on the front step, watching. A figure that looked a lot like Viktoria suddenly appeared behind him, tackling him to the ground and starting to beat the crap out of him. "Oh shit, Dimitri! They're chasing us!" He pushed the pedal down, no longer worried about killing the car, now that the option was the car or us. I swore again but as fast as Guardians were, they couldn't match a car, not even a crappy one like this. Soon they became specks in the distance and then nothing at all. I breathed a sigh of relief once Baia was left in the dust, a stretch of nothingness ahead.

"How did they know you were at my house? It's one thing to suspect Baia because of me but another to _know _you were at my house, especially since they didn't mention me at all."

"It was Jas. He told about where I was. He must have made the connection after that name slip…" Dimitri swore. "But it's not your fault. They knew I was in Baia. Adrian let slip my location when he drunk and pissed off at me. He didn't mean to though," I said hastily, seeing his murderous expression. "He got so bloody hammered after that fight we had…" I became silent, once again blaming myself for our situation.

He stayed silent as we drove. At first, it was tense, sizzling with adrenaline and panic. Then it became comfortable, as both of us calmed down and became lost in our thoughts. I was thinking about Jas. Had I honestly thought he wouldn't tell if he found out? He was still a Guardian, driven by duty, no matter how much he hated the government. He never loved me, I was something to pass his time. Of course, I knew that, but you'd think that even as a time passer he'd still have some care for my well-being and well, life. Men. How they confused me. All of them seemed to betray me one way or another, but it wasn't like I hadn't betrayed them first. Was this karma? If it was, it was a total, mothereffing bitch.

We both jumped at the sudden noise and vibration coming from my pocket. I pulled out the cell phone, my hands shaking in anticipation, and flipped it open. "Rach speaking."

"We got ourselves a location," said Sydney.

**Don't be mad that it's short, be happy that it's jammed full of action and information.**

**So many of you found Jas suspicious so I couldn't have him be innocent, even if I had different ideas in who sold the Russia location. (sorry twilighternproud. They just weren't meant to be)**

**Hope you liked? I'd have made it longer if I didn't like cliffies so much :D**

**Review! Even if it's to tell me how much you hate me and my cliffies. Or how much you love that Jas is out of the picture. Or that you're happy Syd finally called. **

**Just be prepared for the unexpected. I've got long sleeves on today. **

**Oh, and if I you guys want, you can put a tid bit in your review about how you would beat Jas (or Adrian if you so desire) to his slow, painful death and I'll put my fav 3 up next chapter xD Remember the details!**


	16. Do Not Disturb

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday guys, I was at a friends house and didn't even have time to write the chapter for yesterday… **

**Well, hope you aren't too mad at me. But I had a life for a night :D**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead and do not own VA. So don't sue me.**

* * *

As much as I love Sydney, she can be really unhelpful. Is it really that hard to find out more than just a location? Maybe a name? A neighbourhood? May just a city in general? But no. Just a _location. _Colorado. Didn't she realize how many people live in Colorado? In Denver alone there's over 600 000 people. I mentally sighed at the work ahead of me. Sydney had apologized for the lack of more information but she swore there was seriously nothing else to go on. This little piece took a lot of work as it was, a lot of called in favours and rule bending. She was lucky she wasn't fired.

Her advice to us: Have fun, don't die and avoid capture until you can make any sort of plan.

So we were going to take her advice. After I survived another car ride together. Me and Dimitri. All alone. Again.

So far the car ride had been… silent, as far as conversation went. But it was loud in terms of tension, panic, adrenaline and unsaid I-told-you-sos. I felt like I was about snap from it all at any time. Blow up. Cry. Beat something to a pulp. Preferably Jas. I can't believe I kissed that jackass traitor. I didn't care if he still had a duty to help the Moroi and Dhampir world. All I felt was darkness fuelling my desire to shred something to pieces. We had no leads beside a state. No names. No place to stay. No one to trust. I worried about the Belikov's and what damage I had caused for them. Would they be punished? Surely they couldn't do such a thing if they pleaded that they didn't know we were fugitives. Maybe they'd play dumb and think Dimitri and his little friend were visiting. God, I hoped they were okay. And I sure hoped Viktoria beat the stuffing out of Jas. Hopefully she wouldn't get jailed for that… I wish _I _could beat the stuffing out of Jas. After I was finished with Jas, I would move to Adrian. I'd slowly skin the bastard and let him bleed to death **(thanks twilighternproud). **It was all his fault really. He could have kept his mouth shut if he wanted to. I bet he secretly wanted to let slip were I was hiding anyways. Revenge. My fists tightened, my knuckles turning white. I was so pissed, angry. At Jas, at Adrian, at Dimitri for being a stubborn ass, at the world for being so unfair.

I started taking slow, deep breaths. I need to stay in control. I gripped the handle of the door, tried to concentrate on the sound of dirt crunching beneath the tires as Dimitri drove.

Dimitri. Such an ass. Why couldn't he just say 'I told you so' already? He had been right about Jas, how he couldn't be trusted. Mind you, if Dimitri hadn't been so… _aggravating _I wouldn't have had to even deal with Jas. It was Dimitri's fault he slipped. If he hadn't been so jealous, there would have been no piss fights, no need to worry about my safety in a fight of two Dhampirs. No need. His fault. Darkness welled up. I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to punch him. Instead I punched the glove box, leaving a small dent in it and a smarting red mark on my knuckle.

Dimitri swerved, looking alarmed at my sudden over flow in emotion. He straightened the car and asked me, "What's wrong?"

"Everything," I growled. "Everything is wrong." My hands started to shake and I gripped them tighter, trying to stop them. Another deep breath. It didn't calm me. In fact, it just gave me more air to say the following, "There is no one out there who I don't regret trusting. All you men are inconsiderate traitors." At least I had half a mind to not look at Dimitri because I knew if I did I would either snap and punch his traitorous face or end up getting punched myself.

"Rose," he said calmly. "How's Lissa been lately?"

His question confused me. Why the hell wasn't he angry? His calmness pissed me off more. But, right,_ Lissa_. Always about her. "Oh? You're little Princess? Oh, she's great. Got a hell of a lot better control than me with my anger and world realization. Bet you're happy to know that once you get back to her you won't have to deal with my attitude."

He sighed and pulled over. "Rose, get out of the car."

"What? You just gonna kick me to the curb?"

"There's no curb. It's dirt and grass. Not curb." I yelled in outrage and, still not looking at him, crawled out and slammed the door. I stomped to the nearest tree and started punching it, not caring about shredding my hands. Anger. Pain. Betrayal. Darkness. Hate. Fear. Panic. I punched again, releasing some emotion. A tear rolled down my face, letting some out. My vision was red. Everything was red, like it was laced with blood. Like my blood was lacing the tree. The pain felt nice. An absolute in a world of uncertainties.

I heard feet crunch behind me and I turned quickly, ending in a fighting stance. I saw Dimitri, his hands up in a surrender position. Idiot, he's leaving himself open. I took a step and threw a punch at his face, one that landed hard against his cheek bone since he moved last second to avoid a broken nose. Before I could even blink, I was facing the tree again. The one that was stained with my blood. Gentle hands encircled my wrists, pulling them back from punching him from behind. They uncurled my fists, slipping their fingers in between mine, holding them from behind me. I felt warm breath on my ear and I leaned towards it, craving the touch. "Shh, Roza. Let it go. This isn't you. Just listen to my words." I resisted the urge to break out of the hold and put him on his ass, instead doing as he said and listened to his words over the pounding of my heart in my ears. My muscles trembled, needing to hit something. I clenched them, telling them to shut up. I squished Dimitri's fingers between my own, breathing in ragged breaths. He didn't flinch, instead he held me closer. "Calm down, Rose. This is the darkness. Lissa's, not yours." His breath sent some stray hairs towards my cheek, tickling it. I shivered. More tears fell down my face. I hated them all. I wanted to kill them. And here I was, in the arms of someone I hated. _I love you_, I whispered to him inside my head. I wanted to say it. I wanted to hear it back. But I couldn't bear the inevitable rejection. Jas had done nothing to help in the long run and he wasn't here to keep Dimitri on his toes.

I ripped my hands from his, kneeling to the ground. Sobs racked my body. I was so scared, so helpless. There was no hope. I would be out in the world forever hiding, forever running. I would die in dishonour. Forever remembered as the girl who killed the Queen. And I couldn't even live as a fugitive in happiness. I'd be with a guy who didn't love me. Maybe I'd make friends who didn't know my real name or know anything real about me. Maybe I'd live a fake life. Maybe I'd find some sort of happiness. But it would all be fake. Dimitri pulled me close, resting my head in his lap. The tears were gone now and we just laid there, me with my face to the blue sky, eyes closed, and Dimitri running his fingers through my hair. My heart slowed, my muscles relaxed but I didn't move. I wanted to freeze this moment and keep it in my heart forever.

My heart ached. My hand ached. My head ached.

Dimitri picked my shredded hand up and looked at it closely. "We need to clean this up." He stood up, hauling me with him. I felt embarrassed but I continued after him, sitting on the passenger seat as he pulled out a first aid kit and started washing my wounds. It stung but I didn't complain. He wrapped my hands in some sports wrap since no band-aid was big enough or able to stay on. Dimitri climbed in the car after he was done playing Doctor and started driving again. I pressed my cheek against the cold window, my mind drifting off and sleep consumed me.

And so we were off to Colorado again. Good thing we still had hours to make it to the airport.

Customs was long, slow and brutal. I beeped through the metal detector because I forgot I was wearing a wire-rimmed bra (very embarrassing) and then after we landed I got my luggage checked because I got unlucky with the button. The security didn't care for my stake much.

We arrived at the cheap motel Sydney had booked for us in Denver late at night (human time). I felt drained, tired. All these sudden life changes were really starting to take their toll on me. Nevermind the impending jet lag. All I wanted to do was snuggle into a warm bed and be done with them all. I wanted to be back with Lissa where the only worry was weither or not fifty Guardians was enough for a shopping trip. Dimitri, too seemed tired and restless. He must be worried about his family, maybe about his future, just like I was.

We stumbled into the room, throwing our bags to the side of the room and tumbling onto the first bed we saw. I took in no other surroundings other than the comfy bed, warmed by Dimitri's heat as he unconsciously wrapped his arms around me. I took in his sweet scent, the hard yet soft muscles pressed against me. His chest evenly rose up and down softly, proving that he was asleep. If he wasn't, wouldn't his heart be hammering like mine?

I fell asleep in heaven.

XXX

"Dimitriiii," I whined, "I'm bored."

"Then find something to entertain yourself."

We'd said the exact same things for the past… 5, 6 hours? I was lying on one bed by the window and he was on the other (turned out there was two beds. It made the fact that we slept in one that much more novel) in the exact same position, staring at the ceiling. And we were, well, bored. I had many ideas of what to do with him but he immediately shut me down on those.

"Wanna go to a club or something? I haven't danced for a while."

"Didn't I tell you -" He took a look at my face, saw my puppy dog eyes and caved. "Fine! We'll go. But if we get recognised, it's your head."

"Literally. But who cares? I've changed my hair, again," red this time, "so no one should automatically recognise me. And there's going to be tons of people there. And who's going to expect us to be here anyways? Not even Lissa knows where we are now. There's _no one _to give us away."

"I said you can go already."

I jumped up from my bed, leaping over to his, and gave him a hug. "Thanks, Comrade!" And before he could say anything else, I was grabbing clothes and slamming the bathroom door shut.

We arrived (I managed to drag Dimitri along, despite his continuous complaints) and stood amongst the crowd of young adults and older adults having a bad day waiting to get in. Now, neither of us had ID we could give him that didn't danger us in one way or another so we relying on the fact that I, maybe, looked over 21. We reached the front of the line and Dimitri slipped through with a glare at the bouncer who was about to ask for his ID and then thought better of it. No glare stopped the bouncer from sticking an arm out to stop me though. "ID please." I pretended to look through my purse while eyeing Dimitri, hoping he'd somehow sneak me in.

He stuck his head back out, "She's with me," and grabbed my arm, pulling me through, before the bouncer could say anything.

"Wow, Dimitri, I thought you'd use my not getting in as an excuse to stay huddled in the safety of the motel room."

"You need to stay active, even if it means dancing. I don't need you punching out walls. I'd have to pay for them."

"Nah, Syd would. She paid for our room so the damages would get forwarded to her."

"And then she wouldn't help you anymore."

I didn't respond, instead taking in the feel of the vibrating beat beneath my feet and the warm, dancing bodies surrounding me. I threw my arms up and started moving to the beat, losing myself in noise. Any words were incomprehensible in the loudness. It had been so long since I'd been to a club, or a dance where I could just let go. Dimitri was beside me, dancing awkwardly. "I thought you knew how to dance?" I asked, shouted, at him.

"I know how to _dance, _not grind against people I don't know and act like I don't think it's weird."

I rolled my eyes. "Just let your body move to the music. And I'm not _grinding_, I just happen to bump into others while I'm dancing…" I grabbed his arms and moved them to my waist and then brought my arms into the air. I moved my hips side to side to the beat of the music. "At least you don't look like a loser now." And all the girls who were staring at you, about to come over, are backing off. He sighed and followed the movements of my hips. I smiled at his defeat and he just rolled his eyes. The large amount of people around us made it so our bodies had to be basically squished together so I lowered my arms around his neck to save him from getting a front seat to my armpits.

At some point in the night, he'd finally loosened up enough that I didn't have to guide his every movement and he started to have fun. Yes, I know, 'Dimitri' and 'having fun' in the same sentence is absurd but it was true. Hell, maybe he was just getting high from breathing the same air as the junkies at the back of the club. Dimitri deemed it safe enough to have _a _drink so he bought us each one. It didn't seem to affect him at all. Damn Russians.

We left about three hours later, tumbling into our room laughing our heads off at some joke I said on the way up the stairs. We were holding hands to keep each other up as we were clutching our stomachs and loosing balance every other second. _A _drink had turned into two…and then five. We were lucky no Strigoi attacked.

Dimitri fumbled with the key a dozen times before managing to get it into the lock and we fell into the room. I tripped over Dimitri's foot, sending us both sprawling onto the bed, him on top of me. All laughing stopped. My hand caressed his face and he brought it closer to mine. "Roza…" he sighed. His eyes fluttered closed, as did mine, and I waited for an intense second.

_Knock, knock, knock. _"Did you not put up the "Please do not disturb" sign?"

* * *

**Not many of you guys actually sent in how you'd beat anyone slowly to death so I guess I might have to wait for some more to accumulate?**

**Some people are saying they want this story to last a while and I already have something mapped out that would start the process of wrapping it up (starting next chapter).  
****BUT! If it is to be longer I need some extended plot ideas that can be used immediately for the next chapter.  
****Problems, conflicts, ideas **_**anything **_**would be useful.  
****Come on, use those creative minds of yours.  
****The length of this story depends on it!  
****And my minds all pooped out right now D:**

**xoxo Darla**


	17. Last Sacrifice

**I loved how much you guys loved the last chapter :D I agree, a drunk Dimitri is a good Dimitri.**

**I didn't find any extended plot ideas that really drew me in so I'm just going to continue on with my original plan. I'll try and make it a bit longer for you guys if I can though. Other ideas and suggestions are still welcome. I can't have **_**all **_**plot now can I?**

**I'm going camping this weekend so I won't have my computer which means no updates D: But I'll bring along a notebook to write out some chapters so when I come back Sunday I'll be able to update.**

**Disclaimer: Richelle Mead = Not me. VA = Not mine. Dimitri? = On my wish list but currently not in my possession. **

I opened the door to none other than Victor fucking Dashkov.

I resisted the urge to jump him the moment I saw his wiry frame leaning on the door, a smug look on his face. Instead I asked, quite calm considering the situation at hand, "What was so important that you thought it wise to start carrying around a death wish?"

"Why, I wanted to make a deal of course," he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

I snorted. "And what kind of deal would you have that would interest me?"

"I have some information you want," he said, cutting right to the chase, "Information no one else alive can give you." This didn't sound good.

"Oh! Would you like to come in?"

"No no. I'm not a fool so easily trapped."

"Fine. What info do you have?"

"I'll give you the name and exact location of Vasilissa Dragomir's sibling in exchange for… you."

"Me?"

"You. No resistance, no trickery, no escape." I heard Dimitri growl in the background. I held a hand up to stop him from ripping Victor's head off.

"And what would you do with me?"

"Kill you." Why didn't that surprise me? "Think of it as your last sacrifice to Lissa." His lips curled at my outraged expression. He handed me a slip of paper. "Meet me here, six am tomorrow morning with your decision. No negotiations, Rosemarie." And with that, he spun on his heel and promptly descended the stairs with two Guardians in tow before I could rip his face off.

A voice behind me startled me. "Don't do it, Rose."

I hadn't realized I was on the verge of running after Victor to accept his terms until Dimitri's voice broke my thoughts. "Why not?" I asked. "I'll have nothing else to offer, to live for, after I find Lissa's brother or sister or whatever and she takes her rightful spot. She'll live in court the rest of her life, so she'll hardly need me. And I can hardly go back unless I find the true killer. I don't have Adrian to go back to. And… I don't have _you_," my voice broke at the end. Tears burned, threatening to fall.

Dimitri swiftly stood in front of me, his warm hands on my upper arms. "Oh, Roza, don't do it. You are worth too much."

"But what's worth when there's nothing to li-" I was sufficiently cut off by Dimitri's warm lips covering mine.

I automatically wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Our lips met in a frenzy, friction warming them beyond belief. My hands ran through his long hair, relishing the softness. I felt his hands move to my thigh, hiking it up around his hips and then doing the same with my other one. His fingers dug into my chest as he carried me over to the bed. He laid me down, never breaking lip contact, and rested himself on top. I ran my hands along his back, over his chest. My lips parted, giving him access and our tongues wrestled, sending shivers through my entire body, ending in my lower abdomen.

His lips left mine as they moved to my jaw and down my neck, resting on my collarbone. I trembled as he gave me a light nip before outlining the bone with the cold tip of his nose, refreshing on my flushed skin. Dimitri's mouth moved back up to the crook of my neck and he sucked lightly, making me moan. My hands grabbed his hair, pulling his lips back to mine.

"Dimitri," I gasped the only word that was comprehensible in my mind. I pressed my lips harder, begging for more. My hand played with the edge of his shirt before going underneath and feeling the warm muscle of his back. I moved it up and down, needing to feel as much of him as I could. My other hand worked its way down after untangling from Dimitri's hair, roaming down his chest. I pulled his shirt up, feeling empty for the split second Dimitri's lips left mine to remove the shirt completely.

I felt his hands on my hips as they slowly explored upwards. His callused hands left arousing scratches on my sides and they cupped my breasts. They soon left, lifting my shirt over my head and off my arms, tossing it behind him. He stared at me, making me feel uncomfortable for a second before a told me, "You're beautiful, my Roza. Absolutely gorgeous." I felt a little thrill go through me at the words 'My Roza'.

I looked down his tanned, muscle defined chest. "And you, my dear Comrade, are absolutely _godly_." He gave a light laugh before returning his lips to mine.

At some time during our intense make out session, we lost our pants. And I lost my bra. And then my underwear. Until Dimitri was only clad in his boxers next to my nude body. He groaned against my lips. "I need you, Roza. I need you so bad." I could feel his need on my thigh and returned it full force.

I moaned back, "I need you, too. Take me. Please." I moved my hands to the elastic band around his hips.

"Are you sure?" I nodded and pulled them down.

You never really realize how much you miss someone until they are back with you. You remember how they made you feel, the way their touch exhilarated you to the point where you think you might explode. Every breath is to be treasured, every beat of the heart to be forever remembered. To love with everything you have is something that can never be duplicated nor forgotten. Without it, you are empty.

I felt whole again.

I rested my head on Dimitri's chest, listening to the pound of his heart. He dipped his head down to my ear and, gasping for breath, he whispered in my ear, "You have me."

Those words filled me with joy but that joy just made what I was going to have to do next that much harder.

Once Dimitri was asleep, I slowly untangled myself from his embrace. I silently pulled on some clothing and then moved to the small little desk with its pad of paper and pen. I put pen to paper and, holding back tears, wrote my goodbyes.

_Dearest Comrade,_

_Thank you for finally deciding to stop being so stubborn. It's just too bad that I couldn't have more, spent longer loving you than what I am going to have.  
__You've given me joy on the eve, or day, I don't know what time it is right now, of my death. I have to leave. It is my duty. What I swore to do.  
__I owe Lissa my life.  
__So I will go to Victor and give him what he wants. I'll be sure find a way to give you the information he promised.  
__Please, for me, find Lissa's sibling, find the real killer and go back to her. Protect her in my place. And, seriously, don't die again.  
__And I'll pray to God that this wasn't all a drunken kiss.  
__  
__I love you,_

_Roza_

And with that last flourish and a wipe at my wet cheek, I left the room, closing it softly behind me. I walked down the stairs, the piece of paper that Victor had scribbled the address on in my hand.

This was my last sacrifice to Lissa.

Where the hell was Abe when I needed him?

**Short? Yes. But writing lemons takes a lot out of me. And it's getting late while I'm writing this. I have to get up early tomorrow so I can't really continue tonight… D:**

**But you got a lemooooooon. You happy? I can't write these well so I usually try to avoid them. But for you guys I do a lot.**

**So do a little for me and review. What do ya say?**

**You say: Yes! I shall press the little link below this text and tell you how awesome you are! AND I'll give you some ideas so that we can have some happiness after you use up all the ideas in your head.**

**Me: Why thank you :D**

**xoxo Darla**


	18. Another Day's Work

**Thanks for all the reviews guys! I was so happy at all my new messages :D**

**Once again I feel as if I've dug myself into a rut because I have no idea where to continue… but I always do, right?**

**And so…**

**Disclaimer: Iway amway otnay Ichelleray eadmay. **

* * *

I pushed open the doors out into the dark, quiet street, holding back tears. I was heartbroken over leaving Dimitri and in a numb shell of disbelief that I was walking towards my death. The end. No fighting chance. I know that I'd done this before, many many times, but this was different. More… final in a way. I'd die without putting up a fight. That was the deal. And it hurt. But at least I'd go out with the fresh memory of how it felt to be held by Dimitri. My brain told me that the situation was badly placed out. Dimitri was drunk and probably driven by the force to do whatever he could to make me stay, even if it meant pretending for a night and breaking my heart all over again the moment I was safe from myself. My heart pulled in a different direction.

I forced myself to not regret leaving him when I so recently just got him back.

I walked down the brightly lit streets, it being quite late out there wasn't any taxi's that I could see. Teenagers and young adults ran amok, coming to or from a party or just hanging out, I don't know. They paid me no mind except for the occasional whistle from a group of drunkards. Some asked if I wanted to join them tonight. Said it would be a "grand night on a grand bed." The sight of drunken men and their easy give ins shot another arrow through my heart.

I tried to get the wind to cool my still flushed cheeks but no such luck. At least I could blame it on the lighting even though no one probably cared about a blushing Rose walking the streets, alone, late at night. With a stake in her pocket, of course. Step after step, I walked along the twisting unfamiliar roads of Denver, attempting to find my way around to the address given to me. The longer I spent searching, the higher risk I posed of having Dimitri wake up and come stop me. I couldn't have that. And the longer I kept worrying, the more nauseous I was making myself feel. Finally, I gave in and walked up to a couple that was about twenty five at most. "Excuse me?" I said as I walked up to them.

They looked over at me. "Yes?" The girl asked pleasantly. She was just a bit taller then me and had shoulder length, black hair that turned a blood red in the lighting from the movie rental store's lights just behind her. A shiver ran up my spine, making my stomach gurgle unpleasantly.

"Can you point me in the direction of this building?" I gave her the piece of paper while eyeing her boyfriend, who was eyeing me. His hair was cropped short around his ears and his gaze made me want to throw up. Literally. He was much taller than me but had a thin build. I tried to look into his eyes but it was too dark. There were no more people on this street. The eerie silence was punctuated by a whistling gust of wind that rattled some lone garbage. A can clanked across the sidewalk.

She smiled, not showing her teeth, her red lips curling creepily. "Absolutely. It's just over here. We can show you if you want." She unconsciously gave me a full smile at the end, showing a good view of her pearly white fangs that seemed to practically glow in the dark. I bet she used white strips. My nausea now explained, I shoved it out of my mind and took a fighting stance, pulling my stake out of my belt. "Oh, a Guardian?" She and her boyfriend, probably just a temporary hunting partner, mirrored my position. Looking closely at them I could tell the she had once, too, been a Guardian. It was sad to come across such a rare find. He on the other hand just looked like he had been a Moroi.

"Oh, don't play games with me. I know you sensed what I was before I even turned the corner."

She smiled again. "Very true. But we don't like making scenes. We get most of our good catches here. Lots of young Moroi on vacation. Seeing blood deters them. But not for too long." And she lunged.

I quickly moved out of the way, not taken off guard in the least. I was prepared for this kind of stuff. The male snarled at me, circling my back as the female moved in front. Two on one. Easy peasy. My hair wasn't swept up into a pony tail so it might prove a slight distraction. But harder to be grabbed by them. I took a quick step towards the girl, quickly swiping my stake and just barely nicking her arm. Still, she hissed at me and returned with a full body attack. I held my fist at the ready so when she came close enough, I hit her in the temple while her nails racked down my left side since my arm was no longer protecting it. Ignoring the piercing pain, I followed with a quick right kick, spinning myself to have access to the male and gave him a left hook. He wasn't as fast, not as skilled, and took the blow to the top of his head after trying to bend down to dodge.

The girl grabbed my waist in both of her hands, trying to push me onto the ground. Though it put me out of balance, I couldn't afford to have her this close to me on the offensive and took a chance at a quick elbow across her face. She screamed at the stinging impact and loosened her grip so I could take a balancing step back and kick out one of her knees. She howled again, getting the male into gear to attack. I quickly round housed him and staked him, returning my attention to the female. Now on the ground, she still put up a stink of a fight, scratching up my face, arms and torso before I managed to slip my stake through her heart.

Shaking, I sat back against a building and pulled out my cell phone to call Sydney and get some alchemists on their way. The Strigoi were right about one thing, blood and bodies didn't work well with human and moroi society. Instead of calling her though, I sent her a quick text. If I talked at this point she might ask why I was out and then I'd probably tell her and then I'd be back where I started. With an angry Russian and no plans. I placed a hand over the scratches. My face wasn't bleeding much but my side stung like a bitch. I zipped up my hoodie so no one would notice and I wouldn't drip.

After a quick breather, I stood up and rushed back into the street, being careful of my left side. Now, where the hell was I suppose to go again? Which way had I come from? _Oh shit_, I thought once I realized that I was, in all senses, lost. So much for the special Guardian sense of direction. Guess it didn't come with the job. Damn Denver. I continued to stumble along streets, trying to make sense of them. I saw a gas station up ahead and I felt relief at heaving found a place that would give me directions and not ask for my soul in return. I ran in and walked straight to the counter. The man immediately stood up from his chair that he had been reading a book at and smiled at me. He narrowed his eyes at my scratched up face, took a quick look outside, saw no car and asked, "How can I help you?"

"Um, can you tell me how to get to 53 Denvalle Street?"

He raised an eyebrow, damn him and his eyebrow muscles, and said, confused. "Um, this is 53 Denvalle Street, miss."

"Oh! Well, thank you." I looked around the empty gas station with it's endless supply of colourful candy bars and pops. No Victor. "Um, do you know the time?"

He took a quick glance at his cell before answering, "Three am. You meeting someone here or something?"

"Yes, actually. At six. Guess I'm a bit early, eh?" I smiled, hoping I didn't come off too freakish and have him call the cops. That would be a total plan ruiner.

"Uh huh. What's a fine lady like you meeting at a gas station in the wee hours of the morning?"

_Oh, you know, trading my life for vital information pertaining to finding the illegitimate Dragomir child. You happen to know anything about that?_ "I'm supposed to meet here for a ride back home. A bunch of us took a bus down, you know, high school grad adventure, and we we're getting a ride back from this guys dad. I leave for one night and no one answers their phone. And now I sit here, no where to sleep, waiting for my ride." Smart? Yes, I am. Thank you.

He leaned his arm on the counter. "Sad tale. Well, make yourself at home in this grubby little plot. I was feeling a tad bit lonely."

I smiled. "Well, now you've got company… for the next three hours." He smiled back and pulled up a chair for me.

After I excused myself to go to the bathroom and get cleaned up after an 'unfortunate cat attack' we made pleasant conversation. I somehow managed to keep it together knowing that death was on its way, literally, and he was just happy to have company in the form of a lone, slightly scratched up pretty girl. There were no customers so it was just us and apparently 'free' chocolate bars which he, named Matt, claimed were job benefits. The benefit being the knowledge of where the security cameras were.

I was munching on a Reeses when Victor gracefully walked in, accompanied by his two faithful Guardians. "Rosemarie!" he exclaimed, spreading his hands as if to say 'What are the chances of meeting you here?' "I wasn't sure if I'd see you here or not. Especially not alone." He obviously saw Matt but I knew he meant Dimitri.

"Of course I'd be here. And I lost the others." Had to keep the show up for Matt.

"Well, shall we leave?"

I nodded, waving at Matt, who gave a sad smile back and looked at the time. He sighed realizing he still had a good couple hours left on his shift that he would have to suffer through alone.

I followed Victor to a sleek black car. One of the Guardians held the door open for me, not meeting my eyes. I slid into the black leather seat. It was very posh for a man on the run. Circular lights on the sides of the seats changed colours every few seconds, making the blacked out windows reflect my face hauntingly in shades of red, green, blue and yellow. If this were a less life threatening visit, I'd say I'd want to borrow it from him for a party. What with the expensive surround sound system and multiple cooler bins. Shaking off such otherworldly thoughts, I looked at Victor expectantly. "So, info."

"Patience, Rose. I know it was never one of your stronger traits but it is good to exercise it at times. Would you like a drink?" he waved his hand in the direction of a dark blue cooler.

"No thanks," I said, even though I was parched. "And um, I'm offering my life for this information. I think I deserve premium treatment."

"Suit yourself," he himself pulled out a can of carbonated lemonade. "So eager to rush towards your death?"

"The sooner I tell Sydney the name and location, the sooner she can get Dimitri to go retrieve him or her."

"Tut tut. Do you really think I'm going to let _you_ contact someone? Just because the deal was no funny business that doesn't mean I fully trust you don't have something up your sleeve." He looked at a Guardian and snapped. I was immediately frisked and my cell phone and stake were removed. I didn't fight it. I was too outnumbered and in too a confined space.

"But how am I supposed to get the information to Dimitri so he can get Lissa's sibling?"

"He shall receive at letter once you have been… taken care of."

"How do I know you will send it?" Can't trust the enemy.

"Because I need Lissa to be on the court if I cannot. She has a lot of the same views as me and can make quite the difference now that Tatiana is gone."

The way he so proudly said that make me suspicious. "And how do you feel about Tatiana being murdered?"

"Oh, I'm the reason she _was _murdered. Her stupid Guardians were useless under the hands of my brother's compulsion. That poor Guardian who was just coming back from vacation didn't see it coming. Doesn't even know he was the one who did the dirty work." He laughed quietly. "Proved quite adept at the task he had to do. He overdue the framing of you, didn't he? Who would have thought the court to be such fools? It was just _too _obvious that it was you, I think. You wouldn't be stupid enough to use your own stake but they ate it up like the scared idiots they really are. There's no justice, just the whims of cranky Moroi with no open minds to the way the new world is shaping. But once you are dead, they will calm down and place a new throne. I'd prefer it was me but because of you that will never happen. Lissa shall do though."

"How do you know she'll get the throne?" I was surprisingly not surprised by this news, or even angry. He had somewhat good intentions.

He shrugged. "Who else would? Once your dear lover brings her sister over she'll have every right as every other Royal." So, it was a sister? He didn't seem too bothered by his slip though. "She'll shape the world the way I couldn't because of my disease. What do you think? My brother do a good job? Too bad it can't last forever." He did, in fact, look quite youthful and that pissed me off.

"Yes," I said pleasantly through grit teeth. "Where is he, anyways?"

"Oh, setting up for our arrival." Oh, joy. "We're almost there, don't worry."

Oh, why would I worry? I was only driving, willingly, towards my death. No big or anything. Just another day's work. Well, last day of work. Rose, shut up.

**Another chapter! There, there. We all know Rose is stupid and we all hate Victor but at least he takes his victims in style. (after the whole gas station meet up)**

**And no, no DPOV until the whole story is completed. And then I might do a couple chapters of your guy's choice in his POV.**

**I'd continue this but I feel as if I dug myself into **_**another **_**hole and need to think my way out of it O_o I dunno how the hell this is going to work out yet. But hopefully I'll figure it out in time to UD tomorrow :D**

**Anyways, REVIEW YOU MUGGLES (I'm eating a Harry Potter chocolate frog right now, so excuse my wizard-y language)**

**Oh! And a how to kill off Jas and Adrian story:**

**Soccergirl21: I would drop them [Adrian and Jas] off in a desert together. No way of escape. They can go die! I'll keep dimitri *hugs Dimitri***

**Hey, we can all celebrate the safety of Dimitri and then glomp him and soccergirl21. Sharing is caring :D**


	19. Madman

**Sorry for the later than usual UD, I was distracted by a wonderful series called the Hunger Games and the recent release of Mockingjay (which I happened to win a free, **_**signed**_** copy off :DDDDD)  
****Really, when faced with re-reading the series and then having the new one given to you? Writing is thrown down the list of things to do that day.  
****But it was awesome and if you read the series, I hope you understand :D  
****Anyways, back to the story**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead. Get over it. I did. *cries in corner* Almost there.**

We pulled up to a bright, expensive looking mansion. Well, I guess any mansion would be expensive but this looked… amazing. The whole top floor was made of glass so you could see into the expertly designed living room. The main floor had a very modern look to it. Light beige walls and a soft, pretty lawn and garden full of blooming flowers in front. Very un-fugitive madman-y. Who would ever imagine Victor Dashkov, convicted criminal, escapee, to be living in such a nice place? Where had he gotten the money? I knew he was rich but… I had assumed he had been cut off. He probably was but he must had found a way to steal a considerable chunk from it and before anyone noticed, disappeared without a trace… again.

At first, I was confused. Was I seriously going to be murdered in such a pretty house?

Guess looks are deceiving.

The door was opened for me and I stepped out into the bright sunlight of day. It had to be around 9 now. My stomach grumbled. A reeses bar three hours ago did _not _count as breakfast. "Hey, Victor, you think I can get something to eat first? You know, die in comfort? Maybe get a little shut eye?" I didn't realize how tired I was, what with all the adrenaline that had been rushing through my veins for the whole car ride. And I'd been up since yesterday. Clubbing, drinking, exerting activities and Strigoi staking didn't really help with stay awake thing.

He looked at me, maybe trying to see through any tricks I had planned. When he saw that was really just a tried, hungry Rose he sighed and waved me to the house. Inside, I was taken down many stairs, the lower I got the more medieval they looked, many doors and many expansive hallways. I got confused as where we were going after saw, the second stairway and fifth door and third branching off hallway. His goal to get me totally lost: complete.

Entering my new cheery bedroom of a half finished basement smelling of mildew, I looked at Victor. "So, your whole house to top notch and massive but you can't even give me a real room with a made up bed that doesn't look like someone peed on it fifty years ago?"

"Well, you're a prisoner about to die. I really couldn't care less about your living arrangement."

"But you care if I'm well fed and had a good sleep?"

"I want to videotape your death so yes, I want you looking your best and as awake as possible."

Now that shocked me. "Why do you want to _video tape _my death?"

"So you can make the confession of killing the Queen, therefore I am off the hook, and I'll have my victory recorded forever. Maybe I can make some money off of it. The great Rosemarie Hathaway, dead at last. And if you're good and nice to me, I might just let you tell the camera who Lissa's sibling is, since you obviously don't trust my whole letter method. And I know you won't cooperate well if you have misgivings about out arrangement."

Well, at least he knew me well enough. "I don't want to die with a murder I didn't commit. That wasn't part of the deal."

"Maybe but can you really back out? If I have to, I'll torture it out of you. We have quite the range of instruments."

Behind him, a man I didn't know rolled in a squeaky trolley laden with every tool that you could think of to haunt your nightmares. Now, I've taken a lot of beating in fights and training but… torture? From which I cannot escape? That sent a shiver of terror down my spine. But I was determined not to show it. "Seriously? That's it?"

Victor smiled. "Oh, we've got plenty more if we need them."

Oh, joy.

Food was brought down but I hardly even noticed it. I ate slow, hoping that I was a bit more sloppy in my escape than I thought I had been so that Dimitri could follow me and rescue me from my obvious mind lapse. Did I really think Victor would just kill me peacefully and fulfill his promise without strings attached? No. Maybe. Yes. I was an idiot. I had no hope. Even if Dimitri followed my trail to the gas station, what would he follow? A long gone car and tracks that blended in with every other vehicle in the world? No, I had only one hope. And that hope lied heavily on wiether or not Dimitri told on me and Adrian felt like making it up to me. And if I even knew where I was. Which I didn't.

Still, the moment I finished my food, I flopped onto my unmade bed where a single blanket awaited my arrival. I pulled it over me, bunching up a corner to use as a pillow and fell into a disgruntled sleep until, amazingly, I found myself by a beach dressed in a nice red sundress that tied around my neck. The sound of waves lapping the shore was soothing. Adrian was sitting on the bench beside me, looking down at me with sadness and anger. "You know that sacrificing yourself was _not _part of any plan, right?" he asked, his nostrils flaring.

"Neither was you selling us out," I retorted. Pain flickered across his face. Feeling guilty, I said quickly, "It was part of my last minute now-or-never plan that included getting the information that would mean a successful mission. It was the only way."

"There were many other ways. We could have had a tracker on you, video camera, audio, anything that made you safer and easier to pick you up. But no, you go in tired and slightly intoxicated. Obviously, you've lost your brains."

"Sorry if my safety was the last thing on my list. I was, believe it or not, ready to die." In a nice, peaceful way. Not by the evil tools locked behind the door in my 'bedroom'.

"So I've heard. Obviously, you're not dead yet. Why is he keeping you alive?"

I hesitated. I wanted to get rescued but I knew that if I did, I wouldn't get the information in time. And I knew he'd only give it to me _after _he videotaped me confessing to murdering Tatiana. But if I told him, we might be able to make a plan… right? "Well… um.."

"Rose…"

"He wants to video tape me confessing to murdering Tatiana and then my death afterwards. You know, the execution that I failed to get in the Royal Court," I said in a rush.

His tone was too even, too calm. "And if you don't…?"

"Expect to find me in bloody taters during the video."

His hands angrily clutch his hair. "Damn it! Damn it damn it damn it!" He fixed me with a look of such intensity that I felt myself shrink a bit. "Where are you?" he demanded.

I laughed. "You think I know? All I know is that I spent a good three hours in his car and am in some posh mansion that an escaped criminal shouldn't be able to afford. In a basement that I don't know how to get out of."

He sighed. "We need something to work off of, Rose!" he yelled.

"Yeah, I got that. Here: the top floor is made of glass, the main of beige wood. It's big, it's fancy and doesn't have much around it."

"So, country?"

"It didn't have that country air. Maybe a really big plot of land?"

He sighed again. "We'll see what we can do. For now, don't confess to the murder. It'll be painful but we need you alive. We'll be there soon."

"What about Lissa's sister?"

"You can try to get Victor to tell you so you have it when we rescue you but if not, well, we'll think of that later. Oh, and Abe sends his best wishes."

"So now he decides to make an appearance?"

"Well, his daughter willingly went into the arms of a madman to get killed. He kind of already promised to keep you alive, didn't he?" And he faded away, making me open my eyes to a smiling madman standing over me.

"It's showtime!" he exclaimed, a twinkle of excitement in his eyes. Along with a healthy amount of revenge and hatred.

**There, not much but I knew you guys would want **_**something. **_

**And since the chapters have become so irregular in length, I've really got no idea on how many chapters this story is going to be.**

**So… REVIEW! And make me happy with my Hunger Games withdrawal kicking in.**

**xoxo Darla**


	20. Gah

**So, this chapter is another one of those things that I don't care to right about. I have no experience in being tortured nor the art of it.**

**Be warned that I may well have butchered it in my attempt to keep myself sane.**

**WARNING: This chapter contains depressing scenes where Rose is in pain. Do not read if you feel for the characters too much.**

**Disclaimer: Me ish not Richelle Mead. Stop asking.**

* * *

I held back a scream and lashed out at Victor. Immediately, there were five men on me, pinning my arms. Rope was tied around them and I was hauled up by my wrists. Feeling weak and defenceless with my hands tied, I reflexively kicked out with my legs, hitting something solid that gave and fell to the floor. A quick and painful pressure on my stomach made me collapse, yelling out. My ankles were tied. Damn it. They pulled me up to my feet and dragged me to a wall.

"Rose, if you had just _cooperated _this would all be so much easier." I snorted. He ignored me. "Now," he pulled out a video camera, playing with it in his hands. He turned it on, fiddled with some settings and then moved it to my face, a red flashing light indicating it was recording. "What was it you wanted to say to the camera?"

My head was held straight so I couldn't move it, my back resting against a cold, stone wall. A hook was in place where my wrists hung above my head, my feet almost flat against the ground. I saw in my peripheral a man with a shaved head holding a shining army knife in his hand with a wicked smile on his face. I took a deep breath, knowing what was going to happen after I said it, or rather what I didn't say. "Victor Dashkov is the flaming terd on fire who killed the Qu-" I burning sensation engulfed my cheek as the force of the slap made my face turn and smack against the wall. So much for my face restraint. My head throbbed where it had made contact with the wall and I already felt the forming of a bump.

"Want to try again?" Victor asked with a smirk. He knew I wasn't going to give in easy and he was enjoying the game.

"No, not really." A punch to the gut made me curl forward, gasping, my legs coming up as far as they could without putting too push pressure on my wrists. This was nothing I wasn't used to. Really, when were they going to get to the good stuff? Hopefully not for a while.

"Mmm?" I looked up to see the camera still fixed on me. I straightened up as much as I could and looked Victor in the eye, putting as much venom into my gaze as possible. "Come on, Hathaway, give us a good show."

"The only good show is seeing you getting executed, you as-" I clamped my mouth shut to stop myself from crying out as I felt a thin line of agonizing pain stream down the top of my calf from just below my knee to just above my ankle restraints. Well, at least they didn't seem to be aiming for my Achilles tendon. But maybe that was for later.

Guess we were getting to the good stuff.

Victor's smirk began to grow. "It's alright, Rose, you can scream." Maybe I'll just say silent.

And silent I stayed.

The less I said, the more it seemed to anger Victor. He kept trying to taunt me but I knew the moment my mouth opened I would let out a scream or a stream of swears. The tears welling in my eyes begged me to release my pain in the form of noise but I knew that that was what Victor wanted. I knew the moment the screams were over, I'd say I killed the Queen just to have him kill me, to end the pain of red-hot pokers on my skin, scarring my legs, my stomach, my arms.

I'd beg him to stop the knife from opening the tender veins in my body, causing them to sting and bleed out, slowly dripping down onto the floor and giving me the only warmth in this chilling room.

If I had a closer relationship with God, I might pray for Victor to stop the abuse that made bruises erupt in ways I'd never felt before. Anything to stop the feeling of becoming a piece of human paper, cut and crumpled again and again and again to no mercy.

I'd plead for a mercy that will never come.

And so I stay silent through it all.

And Victor was right. That little nap kept me awake. Not that I'd be able to sleep anyways.

The day went by slowly, filled only with sizzles and smells of burnt skin, the horrific smooth sound of a gleaming blade becoming stained red and the insistent words of Victor, trying to get me to open my mouth. My eyes stay fixed on a crack in one of the stones as I refused to succumb to the need to close them. Tears ran freely down my face, mixing with blood to become a faded pink. I didn't sob. Victor moved close to me, standing in front of my face, watching my blank face for something. "Look at me." I continued to look at the crack. What would happen if I made it bigger? Would the whole building collapse in on me? "LOOK AT ME!" he screamed, jerking my face directly in his. I stared at him defiantly. His voice softened. "You might as well give up now. You know that at some point you'll confess and you know this will continue until you do. You'll die in a lot less pain." I resisted the urge to laugh hysterically, because that's really all there was left of me, and instead built up a mixture of saliva and blood in my mouth and spat in his face. I smiled. He brought up a hand to a long cut in my cheek and placed a hand on it. It stung slightly but still I smiled. He returned it, my spit slowly succumbing to gravities pull downwards. Sharp, indescribable pain covered my face as his hand and nails dug into my already ruined skin. I let out a small almost inaudible cry but he heard it and that was enough. He let his hand fall and he stepped back, whipping the blood and spit on a towel behind him. "We shall continue tomorrow then, now that we've made some progress."

They all left, leaving me strung up. My body hurt. Everything was stiff. My stomach grumbled. I didn't dare try to move, for fear of causing another shooting pain to cascade through me. I stayed silent. My face stayed blank. I had to hold out, just until Adrian and Abe and, pain shot through my heart as well, Dimitri. I still didn't know about Dimitri. Drunk, angry, messed up, hot, caring and infuriating Dimitri. He didn't even give me best wishes like my father. Maybe me being gone was just a perfect excuse for him to go back to Russia or go back to Lissa. Thinking of Lissa reminded me that I hadn't been in her head for a while. I missed her but didn't feel as if I had the energy to take on whatever was going on back wherever she was. She was probably freaking out over me and I don't think I could take that.

No.

I'll just hang here and hope I die of bleeding out before morning. But, of course, it's not going to happen. They didn't hit any vital arteries. They didn't cut deep. Already my wounds were clotting, leaving me with itchy dried blood and weak scabs. I was cold and had barely any clothing left clinging on me. They were all torn or burned. At least I could be thankful that these guys only seemed interested in causing me physical pain rather than anything else.

Sleep called to me but it didn't come for a long time. Instead, I got to stand there, suffering in mind and body. But finally, slowly, my eyes sagged closed and my mind drifted until unconsciousness swept over my, pulling me into a blissful sleep.

Adrian popped in, but only for a minute to tell me they'd located about five locations that matched my description. Hopefully, they'd be here soon.

But I still didn't have the name. And that was what I needed. _Dear Mystical possible being in the sky, please let them stay away until I get what I need. _I hope I'm still alive at that point.

* * *

**Gahhhhhhhhh, so sad, so short. **

**If anyone is good at writing these things, feel free to PM me a scene to save me from having to pull up my sadistic side of me (though I know some of you love it)**

**Is it sad that I went through all of this only to figure out that this might as well be a filler chapter for all the plot that managed to make it's way through?**

**Anyways, REVIEW! Pllllease?**

**This story continues to surprise me with things I never planned until the chapter becomes written, and still it is not planned D:**

**xoxo Darla**


	21. Happy Button Please

**Today I took my mom shopping. As in, she got some nice **_**clothes **_**that she had no excuse to not wear because they aren't her expensive 'special occasions only' wear.  
****I'm so proud :3**

**On with the gruesome, horribly sadistic story that some of you love and others are totally scared of.**

**Enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead. I do not have red hair.**

The days blurred into nights, becoming minutes, seconds, hours, years. My hands had long since lost feeling and my body warmth. My body burned, begged to lie down, be fed, maybe get a drink.

But I refused to speak.

I knew depriving me of food and water was another tactic Victor created to try to get me to ask for something. And then he'd probably only give me food if I did what he wanted me to do so… what was the point in making him happy with gracing him with my lovely voice? At this point, though, it was probably only going to be a scratchy, uncomprehendable noise. And in all of Victor's chatter, there was not a drop to hint the name nor whereabouts of the person I was suffering so much for.

A light scuffling above me indicated I was in for another round. Everyday was like this. I would be left alone for god knows how long to sleep, recuperate, whatever, and then they would all come down. I would get beaten, cut, burned. My limbs would be pinched and clamped with almost unbearable pressure. Even whips. The whole shebang. Honestly, I didn't think I could bleed out anymore. But sure enough, with every new cut or every old cut reopened, blood spilled out, filling the room with a cold, metallic like smell. This is what I imagined slaughter houses to be like. Blood, blood, everywhere but not a drop to spare.

At some points, I think I lost consciousness from the pain. But maybe it was just wishful thinking, my mind wandering to what it might be like to leave the torture for just a moment. And, of course, it was always just a moment because I would be soon awakened with ice water, adding to my already frozen limbs. Each time I would try to claim a few drops with my tongue but it was never enough. Sandpaper tongue.

I could feel myself giving up, not on my silence but on life. Nothing held me here. Only sometimes did I remember I needed information, but I couldn't bring myself to speak. Not even for something so important. My spite was too big. My only hope was that Adrian and Abe and Dimitri would find out where I was in time to beat it out of Victor. Too bad I probably wouldn't even be alive to see it. Maybe hell would be merciful on me to watch from some paranormal state. Maybe I was already in hell, doomed to relive this again and again. For eternity. The thought made me swear to be nicer to people for now on, anything to avoid such a fate. Psh, what am I thinking? I'm Rose Badass Hathaway. Not Rose Kindass Hathaway. Fire enveloped again, chastising me.

My mind kept wandering away, coming up with pretty forest pictures. Peaceful lakes. Sometimes just blank canvas. But a voice always accompanied. It was soft, kind but always in a hurry. It would always leave so soon, leaving me alone to suffer in this world. It whispered reassurances that it was coming. I was hard pressed to believe it, seeing as there had been no mercy on me. If God was on his way, why the hell was he taking so long? Guess that's what I got for abusing my Sundays sleeping in and using them as excuses to see Lissa. Karma. What a bitch.

A stinging sensation across my stomach pulled me out of reprieve. "Rose. Would you like a glass of water?" I ignored him, my head lolling forward. "How about if I let you down and let you sleep on the bed? I got a comforter brought down for you. Just ask and it's yours." Oh so tempting. But no. I'd rather you went to hell. We can hang out together. Best buds forever. "How about I sate that curiousity of yours? I tell you a certain name, you give me a certain sentence? I'll have to kill you of course but, you already knew that." My curiousity was indeed peaked but I didn't think acting like I was interested was really going to help. Plus, I don't think I had much neck muscle control. I tried lifting my head. No go. A hand jerked it up for me. Victor's hand of course. His nails lightly grazed my cheek, sending pain rippling through it. I stared blankly at him. "Hmm? How about I told you anyways? You'll owe me afterwards." A laugh slipped through my lips, surprising both Victor and me. "Is that funny?" My first speakage in… I dunno, days? Weeks? He wasn't too pleased with it I guess since I was feeling the all too familiar flesh tingling hotness on the back on my ankle. Still, I nodded. No tears escaped anymore. Not enough water to spare.

Now, this was just too ironic to let past. Maybe it wasn't but I was too far gone to care. And at least my few choice words would probably piss him off or something. "I," I managed to choke out, "freed you from jail." I swallowed hard, my throat not used to such things. "_You _owe _me._" I think that last little bit of speech used up all of my strength. I sagged a bit more, my head leaning into Victor's repulsive hand.

He nodded. "Very true." He breathed deeply for a moment, his face thoughtful. "Alright. After I tell you, we'll be even and you will _have _to abide by our deal." He smiled, like it was actually going to get me to do something he wanted. Well, I guess I spoke… My eyes flinted closed fractionally. "You know that cute little girl? Ji-" He was cut off by a sudden loud thumping, rushing towards us, shaking the roof and sending dust down into my hair. Why is it when things start going right for me, something goes wrong?

My eyes gave up, closing on me to protect them from the dust. I tried opening them again but only got slits. First they flicked to Victor who dropped my head with a shocked and… scared? look on his face. The others quickly positioned themselves in front of him, preparing to attack the unknown threat, hot pokers, knives and whips at the ready. Hell, one of them held an awl. I held back a laugh at the hilarity of it all. It was so… medieval looking. Maybe this was all just another trick of my mind, easing me into my perish. Obviously, Victor killed me before he told me anything of importance. Maybe that was just a scene made by wishful thinking… I had to be dreaming, dead even, for when the door flew open with a crash, I saw a face that I hadn't thought I'd see again. A face I had been prepared to leave with mere memories. But, even in a dream, I was drinking in the features. I recalled the way it felt to be kissed by those lips, now held in an angry grimace, to be held by those arms, now bulging under a golden tan. I waited to feel the eyes, the luscious brown eyes, sweep over me like they always did but they didn't. They never even looked at me as he charged in, beating everything that moved to a pulp. Disappointment weighted me down.

Instead, I was lowered from my wall by smaller hands attached to thinner, yet still defined, arms and a slimmer frame. I was slowly placed on the ground, resting on my back as Adrian's face hovered worriedly over mine. His hand gently caressed my face where there were no injuries. "Oh, Rose. I'm so sorry we didn't make it sooner."

I ignored whatever nonsense he was saying and instead used whatever I had left in me to croak, "Lissa. Sister." I took a scorching breath. I needed this. "Name. Victor."

His eyes flicked away from mine for a second before answering, "We'll get that, if Dimitri doesn't kill him first…" His eyes slowly raked over my body and became much more shinier as they filled with tears. "Oh, God. I can't believe…" His voice started to crack so he stopped talking, instead putting his arms under me and slowly scooped me into his arms. I let out a moan as it shifted everything, causing everything to feel as if it was being staked and electrocuted. "Sorry, sorry." I closed my eyes, willing sleep or death to take over to stop this unending pain, even in the arms of someone I loved. Finally, everything was gone and I was floating in soft, fluffy _nothingness_.

XXX

I woke to such a mysterious yet familiar sighting. The white ceiling of a hospital. That sterile smell, filling my nostrils, didn't burn on its way down. Too soon, the rest of my body became conscious and started throbbing in places I didn't even know I had. I let out a moan and closed my eyes again, trying to will it all away again. The lights, the beeping, the pain. I want the good old oblivion back. It's so much better than reality. The only thing good here was that it was warm.

But it all stayed and when I finally gave up, I moved my arm up give my aching face a rub. Instead, I felt a gentle pressure, moving my arm back down. I opened my eyes to see a smiling Russian God above me. "You'll rip your tubes out and we don't want to die from blood loss again."

I raised my eyebrows, winced as pain shot across my face, lowered them and asked, "Again?'

"Well, you didn't technically die, but you were close to it. And you were deeply dehydrated. Good thing you were only there for a week before we found you." Only a week? It felt likes years. "Did you know we had charged four other houses before we found you?" I chuckled at the thought of a gazillion burly men running into the living rooms of oblivious civilians eating dinner. Even that little motion sent me wincing. Dimitri's smile left to be replaced with concern. "Are you okay?"

"I was burned, whipped, beaten and cut. Of _course _I'm okay," I said sarcastically. Idiot.

His face softened. "Guess that's right. You want some pain meds? It'll put you to sleep again… Not that you don't deserve it for being such an impulsive idiot."

As tempting as the offer was, and as much as I loved it when Dimitri got angry at me, I still needed some information. "Did you get the name?"

He nodded. "Jill Mastrano. Lives in Denver with her mom during breaks. Someone's going to inform her and do all the necessary proceedings." Jill? Woah. I never would have guessed that but I guess she did have green eyes, though much paler than Lissa's.

"Did you kill him?"

"No, sadly. He's in critical care right now though. Heavily guarded," he added at seeing my stricken expression. "After he can breathe on his own, he's off to jail." I let out a sigh of relief. "And as soon as most of your injuries are healed, you can get out too. Nothing was too serious after the whole blood loss and dehydration. You had some third degree burns, a couple broken ribs etcetera. But Lissa and Adrian managed to heal or at least help all the bad stuff." I nodded, not wanting to speak. If I did, I was going to burst into tears. "They avoided all the main arteries so there's no damage there. You'll be pretty stiff and sore for a while but you'll heal. And you'll have some pretty awesome scars." He tried to say it to make me feel better but his completely distraught expression kind of ruined it. His hand found mine and I gripped onto it.

I smiled slightly but it hurt my cheek too much. "Am I still a convict?"

"Sadly, yes. We don't know who the real murderer is yet."

"Wait? What?" my voice rising, needing to be heard, "Victor's the murderer, dipwad. Told me himself."

"Well, we'll have to wait for him to go on trail then," he said softly. Maybe he was surprised, but he didn't show it. "They're not just going to take the word of the escaped criminal who was going to be found guilty on that case."

I closed my eyes briefly. I wasn't in a state to think this all through. I just needed one more thing answered. "Was it a drunken kiss?"

Silence. I didn't look at his face. I didn't want to see it saying how he was so hammered he probably would have gotten in anyone's pants. "No. I still love you. But the alcohol did lower my walls in letting you know."

"Okay, that's all I needed to know. Press the happy button."

**School for me starts in a week. I want to have this finished by then because I have no idea how often I'll be able to update. God knows how much homework I'll get this year. But if you guys **_**reallllly**_** want me to keep it going, then I'll have to update weeklyish instead of well, daily(ish). And I have no idea what kind of plot to keep going with after this besides the obvious. So, now that you all know what's happening and I've got the main plot attacked and killed, any ideas on how to keep it moving forward? Just a little?**

**Did you know that my older brother's name is Victor? Yeah. And here I am writing about a Victor being an evil sadistic bastard. I bet if he ever started reading my writing on my computer he'd be all "Um, Darla, I wasn't aware that you thought about me like this. I mean, you've been in your fair share of head locks and been upside down for hours but… really?" And then I'd be in another head lock, a head lock I've managed to avoid for quite a few years now…**

**And I guess this is a little late (my fault) but…**

**CondomAtTheCrimeScene:**

With Jas I would hurt him slowly… I would drip acid  
on him little by little and snip little pieces of him off then put it in a  
tub of acid and once he is all human goop feed him to the pigs.

**Scary. I do not wish to take Jas's place**

**Review or Darla will be sad D:**


	22. Donuts

**5 days till school… but Clockwork Angel comes out tomorrow and I'm FRICKING EXCITED! Anyone else? Come zomg with me :D**

**:D :D :D :D :D :D Anyways… another chapter for your pleasure. Hopefully all the morbid sad stuff is over but there's no telling. Hell, the only thing I'm sure of is the ending. **

**I burned my thumb putting lasagna in the oven yesterday so writing this was total torture on my thumbs part. **

**Well, enjoy and remember that I am Darla, not Richelle Mead. Identity theft is a crime. Don't do it.**

* * *

I fell in and out of a daze consisting of Adrian when sleeping and Lissa or Abe when awake. Dimitri never made an appearance except for my non-Adrian-affected dreams. Really, it's amazing how one guy can so royally screw with your mind. First it's "Rose, I'll love you forever," then it's "Love fades, babe. Mine has," then "Lol, jk, I love you. Just took me getting drunk to realize it," and then… was he shunning me? Or was he just too busy? No, if he really wanted to see me, he'd make an effort to. He always used to make an effort, if only for a minute. Fucking Russians. They can't make up their minds.

Lissa helped me along with my healing, making sure not to overwhelm me with the darkness from it. Spurt here, spurt there. Within a week I was out of there.

The day I was to leave, the whole gang showed up to show me off. Minus Dimitri, of course. "So, where am I headed to now?" I asked, honestly having no idea.

"Well, I got a little house for you out in the middle of no where. It's the only place safe for you until we get all this taken care of," Abe replied. 'This'I assumed was a mixture of Victor and the Queen's murder.

"Can I come?" Lissa practically begged.

Abe shook his head. "No. You need to get back to court. You too Adrian," he said before Adrian could add his piece. "You've been gone for a week with absolutely no excuse. Time to get back before people start getting worried and look into your whereabouts. Don't want that now do we?" We all shook out heads and Lissa and Adrian took their leave, but not before Adrian gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and Lissa gave me hug. She once again said how bad she felt about what I went through for her (even though I could already feel it through the bond) and again thanked me, continually saying it as she left.

I turned to Abe. "And, this place I'm going to, is it, like, solitary confinement or do I get the pleasure of your company until everything is resolved?"

He chuckled softly. "Rose, Rose, Rose. Did you already forget about your partner in crime?"

"I thought my partner in crime forgot about _me_. He hasn't visited since the first day I got here."

He rolled his eyes. "So needy. He's already out getting everything ready. You know, making sure no one's staking the place out to provide your untimely death etcetera, etcetera. You should give the guy more credit. I bet you thought he'd completely ditched you know that your 'mission' is over. Am I correct?" Yes, he was very correct. I assumed my silence was a good enough answer for him since he gave a knowing smile and indicated I get my ass moving. He lead me to a black limo with the blacked out windows all Moroi had so that they could travel during daylight. Which it happened to not be. We were shadowed by three of Abe's hired help. We sat in the back, me sipping a concoction of orange juice, sprite and some other thing that Abe wouldn't identify for me. It was good but the bobbles probably weren't good for the whole rib healing thing. I set it down after my first rib splitting burp.

"So, where's this 'middle of no-where' that I'm heading?"

He shrugged. "Somewhere between the US and Canada."

"Can you get anymore vague?"

"Absolutely. I could have said it was located between the North Po-"

"Oh, nevermind. Is there a flush toilet?"

"A _flush _toilet? Whatever gave you the notion that I, an obviously rich Moroi with connections to get whatever the hell I want, would have a flush toilet in one of my secret getaway houses? Surely you can't be suggesting I prefer those silly contraptions to the lovely shacks of outhouses or, my favourite, letting loose in a bush."

"I guess I get my sarcastic nature from you."

He winked. "Yep," he said, popping the 'p'.

"And I'm assuming there's more than one bed?" _Please say no, please say no_.

"Of course. Can't have my little girl sharing a bed with an older man…"

I resisted the urge to snort.

XXX

I sat staring out the window, watching the rain as it left little drops on my reflection. A drop drizzled down the pale, thin scar that slashed across my cheek, just beside my eye to the corner of my jaw below my ear. Lissa had tried and failed to heal it completely. She could bring me back from the dead but she couldn't get rid of a week old cut that was slightly infected. That fact blew my mind. But I guess Victor tearing the skin around it hadn't helped… I had a few other scars along my body but only the ones I got from the first day or the really deep ones. There would have been more, but having Spirit working friends pays off.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass, my warm breath fogging it up so I couldn't see the dark outside world. Fog had rolled in, obscuring even the sidewalk and making the light from the lampposts scatter. This night could either be taken as peaceful or as a bad omen. Yeva would take it as a bad omen. She'd probably be trying to call me up to say 'Watch out, you might die tonight if your driver doesn't see that mailbox that he _thinks _is part of the road.'

I smiled to myself and took a quick peak at Abe to make sure he wasn't staring at me like I was nutso. His head was lolling back against the headrest with his eyes closed, asleep. _Figures_. I unstuck my forehead and pressed my warm hand against the cold spot, taking a stance identical to Abe's, closing my eyes and trying to drift off for the remainder of the ride. Even though I'd spent most of the past week sleeping, I was pretty tired myself.

I feel into a fitful sleep, filled with images of bloody whips turning into pokers that burned straight through my body when it came in contact with me. I tried to fight back, but I was paralysed, unable to scream or thrash away. I called for Dimitri, but he never came. Never came. At one point I think he may have shown up but he just as quickly faded away to be replaced by a man that looked like him but had red eyes. He walked up to me, tilted my head to the side and whispered my name, "Roza" before biting my neck to drain out whatever was left of my blood. Somehow, he continued to murmur my name, even with his mouth pressed up against my neck, his nails digging into my cheek, causing it to burn. "Rose." Blood dribbled down my shoulder, making me shake with fear and disgust. "Rose." The ceiling suddenly had a big hole in it, letting in light that burned my eyes after so much darkness.

"Rose! Wake up!" I squinted the eye that was currently being held open by my loving father.

Dimitri stood just behind him, glaring at Abe behind his back. "I could have carried her to her bed."

"Nonsense. She's been sleeping long as it is and needs to eat. Doctor's orders. She's thinned out too much." He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. I groaned and brought up a head to shield my eyes from the blazing sun. I quickly looked at Dimitri to double check that he wasn't bursting into ash in the sunlight. I sighed a breath of relief. My dream that had been recurring, though always varying, always shook me up.

I rolled my eyes at Abe. "There'll be no issue on getting me fattened up again. Give me a couple dozen donuts and I'll be set."

"It's true, you know. I bet you five bucks she'll have them down in less than five minutes," Dimitri said behind me.

I smirked. "Only five? That little faith in me, Comrade?"

Abe shook his to the sky, as if begging for mercy. "Well, I've got to go. Plenty to do, so little time. Rose, be grateful I'm not making you do all of this, since it is all for you, and letting to bum around. It really is too much for an old man like me."

"Har, har. Get out, old man, before you shrivel up in the sun and lose consciousness. Then I'd _have _to do the paperwork."

He waved, got in his limo, and drove off. Dimitri and I stood on the green lawn, soaking in the sun. Once I was officially innocent, this would be a rarity. I took in my surroundings. Forest covered all the visible land space and high mountains peaked up behind them. Clouds dotted here and there in the blue sky. It felt peaceful here and I understood why Abe had picked this place as a getaway. But of course, he had to stick a bigass house in the middle of it all. It rose at least three stories and covered a considerable amount of the trimmed lawn. Painted a light blue the same as the sky, it almost fit in the peaceful theme of the place. Very few windows covered the place, signifying a moroi or a human scared of sunlight. Through one of the windows though, I could see a swimming pool. This would be nice. Eventually, I turned to Dimitri. I wanted to ask some more questions but decided I might as well start off this little stay on a good note. "So, what was that you were saying about a couple dozen donuts with my name on them?"

"I believe that was you saying something about that. I've got you eggs and a gigantic portion of bacon." I shook my head in mock disappointment and went to walk inside. Dimitri put a hand on my shoulder and I stopped as a jolt of electricity jumped between us. He dropped his hand. "We're not staying here." I gave him a confused look. He pointed into the forest where I could just make out the outline of a small wood cabin. I never would have saw it if I wasn't looking specifically for _something_. "We live over there."

* * *

**Now for some shout outs:**

**cookiemonster-rawr I love you :D**

**And guess what? I have a cheerleader: museatseventeen "**Oh Darla, you're so fine! You're so fine! You blow my mind!**" **

**Deliciouse, thanks for the uber amount of suggestions (you can thank her for an extra chapter or two. Extensions, extensions!)**

**And, since we are getting close(r?) to the end, I want to thank ., Dimka's Chick and Twilighternproud especially because you guys have reviewed in, practically, every chapter from the beginning. **

**I love allllllll of you, new and old readers. Just had to say that.**


	23. Grilled Cheese

**Gaaaaaah school starts tomorrow *spazzes and dies* **

**Jk, I'm still alive. I haven't read Clockwork Angel yet so no dying for me (this failed delivery service is pissing me off already D: )**

**I love the enthusiasm for the cabin. No promises on whats going to happen *wink wink* but feel free to send in some lemony paragraphs so Darla doesn't pick her mind of things she doesn't know for them O_o But that ^ doesn't mean anything…. Nothing at all…. Really. Stop making assumptions that this is a spoiler ;P**

**Disclaimer: -sigh- I am not Richelle Mead. I'm merrily the great and mystical Darla who will someday have people having disclaimers like these on their fanfics of my awesome stories that will (somehow) surpass VA and Dimitri and all. It's. GLORY!**

**Confidence. A good thing to have and share.**

* * *

The cabin –I once again refused to let my mind wander to what happened last time I was alone with Dimitri in one- was cute. Adorable, really. It was small and made entirely out of logs except for the windows. A small chimney was puffing out a thin line of smoke and the idea of a warm, romantic evening by the fire with Dimitri sent my heart into a racing riot. It was a fair distance into the forest and was surrounded in pine trees, giving it that secluded feel you have when you're playing hide-and-go-seek in a giant mall. Or when, say, you're in a tiny wood cabin, surrounded by wood trees in a gigantic forest made of these wood trees with no other sign of people _at all_. The moment we stepped into the forest, it felt as if we were the only two people on earth. And when we got to the cabin, it felt as if we were the only things in existence. Of course, this feeling only lasted for a couple minutes before I literally feel into Dimitri's arms with exhaustion. Normally this small little hike wouldn't have even made a chink in my energy but that's what you get for being horribly injured and sleep deprived. And my body wanted sleep. Now.

Dimitri smiled and picked me up, pulling me into his chest. I breathed in his lovely scent and felt warm muscle beneath his shirt. I closed my eyes and he carried me into the house, laying me gently on a soft bed. I sighed contently and already felt my body shutting down for sleep. His callused hand caressed my tender cheek and I felt his soft breath on my forehead before he pressed his lips to it. "Sleep tight, Roza," he whispered before walking out, shutting the door behind him. Once he was gone, I remembered I still wanted to ask some questions. Too late now. Maybe later when I don't feel as if my eyes are being held down with 100 lbs weights.

I slowly came to, first only registering the warm blanket on my and how it was slightly itchy. I ignored it though, feeling perfectly happy on my little cocoon of bliss and heaviness. I had had a nightmare earlier but after some deep breathing and reminding myself that Dimitri was only a couple feet away from me in the next room, I had calmed down and fell back into an undisturbed sleep. I realized my stomach was pissed at me. It grumbled and I grumbled back at it. It shut up, for a second. Figuring I probably wasn't going to win this grumble fest, I pulled myself into consciousness. I opened my eyes and rolled over to peer through the closed blinds covering the window. A dim light shone through so I figured it was around sun set, since I really didn't think I slept for a whole _day._

I, literally, fell out of bed, with a loud thump. I groaned, and pushed myself up with my sore arms. I looked down at my legs and realized that they were one: completely asleep and two: felt like they had been continually munched on by little rabbits for the past 48 hours. No wonder they immediately dropped my ass. They didn't seem the like the little workout I put them through yesterday. I grabbed onto the bed and stood up again, my legs now only having a slightly unpleasant tingling feeling, which meant I could now _feel _them in general. I looked down at myself and realized that not only was I wearing a different shirt than I was when I feel asleep, I wasn't wearing any pants. Slow down there, I was still wearing panties. Just… no pj shorts or anything. I quickly started shuffling through my poor suit case (it looked so battered from all the quick moving) and pulled some out. Slipping them on, I opened my door fractionally, not sure if I should feel embarrassed that Dimitri obviously changed my clothes while I was comatose or happy and wither or not I should avoid him at this point.

I saw no one out in the tiny kitchen or living room (aka a couch set just outside the kitchen) so I scuttled into the kitchen. I hadn't gotten the chance to eat my eggs and bacon earlier so I opened the fridge to see if Dimitri had so kindly wrapped it up for me. Sure enough, it was there in a glass plate covered in plastic wrap. I pulled it out, ripped off the covering a popped it in the microwave. I sat down on one of the bar stools with a glass of milk and listened to the hum of the microwave, waiting for it to beep. When it did, I hopped off and took it out, my stomach grumbling happily at the smell of creamy eggs and salty bacon. My only hope was that Dimitri was as good a cook as he was at fighting. I grabbed a fork and started shovelling food into my mouth as Dimitri walked in. I slowly stopped the movement of my fork and swallowed my food. He looked as sexy as usual but something beige in his outfit made me do a double take. "Dimitri, is that a _cardigan_?"

He suddenly looked sheepish. "Um, yes?" He said it more like a question than an answer.

"_Why_?"

"I raided the closet in my room. Do you not like it?" he asked, disappointed. "But forget that, I think we need to talk."

I nodded slowly, setting my fork down. "Yes, yes we do."

"First of all, how are you feeling? I directly disobeyed an order by letting you sleep before you ate so…"

"Like I've been run over by five semis and then spit on my fire breathing dragons and then carried away to a far off castle and dropped off the tallest tower."

"Wow. You want any ibuprofen?"

"Sure." He opened a cupboard and pulled out a bottle, popped the top off and dumped a couple pills into his hand. He also handed me a glass of water. I took it down gratefully and returned to my quickly cooling bacon.

"Now, about what happened before Victor – "

"I'm sorry, I can't take you seriously with that cardigan." He sighed and pulled it off, tossing it onto the couch that was three feet away. "And I get it Dimitri. You regret what we did. I already know that so don't make it hurt anymore than it already does with actually _saying _it."

He looked quizzical and a bit hurt. "Why would you say that?"

I took a deep breath and pushed away my plate, my appetite suddenly gone. I looked down at it. "Because you never once looked at me when you came to rescue me," I whispered, barely audible.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shake his head. His finger came to my chin and forced me to look at him. "When we made love that night, I was ecstatic. My only regret in that was that we hadn't made the choice fully sober. If we could go back in time, I would still do exactly what I did. Roza, when I woke up to an empty spot beside me, I was distraught. You couldn't have been thinking straight. When I read that letter, I felt myself die a bit inside knowing that you set out to die. I had no idea when or how he would do it. My only hope was that he would keep you alive long enough for us to find you. When Adrian told me what he was planning to do to you," his voice started to crack, "I-I don't know how I managed to hold myself together. To think, that you, my precious Rose, was going to be put through something like that, I wanted to rip his _fucking _throat out. So, that was the job I was assigned to do. Well, capture, not kill. I knew that the moment I saw you, in whatever state, I was going to lose it. I knew I would run to you, make sure you were okay. Nurse you back to health. But that would endanger you and the others and that was totally against my goal. I was going to make sure no one ever touched you again. I still am." I was speechless. Here I thought he didn't care. Maybe just wanted to go back to that love-hate relationship that we had somehow fallen into.

"But, before. You called me a bloodwhore."

"That, I regretted. Very much so. I would do anything for you, Rose. After, after, you saved me, I was plagued with images of what I did to you every time I saw your face and that hurt me so much. I had sworn to protect you and here I was the one that had caused you pain. I tried to push you away, to help get rid of some of the pain. I wanted to keep you safe, away from me. But that only hurt you more. There was nothing I could do. I knew I no longer had any chance with you, that I blew it with those two words." Those words that had been forever etched in my brain made a reappearance. Love fades, _Mine has_. They still stung, but I forced myself to hear him out. "I didn't deserve you. And you deserved someone much better than me. Someone who hadn't put you through so much pain and suffering. I could have killed you, turned you Strigoi. And being an evil monster with no sense of wrong or right is no excuse for that. The only thing I could do was keep up the act and hoped you moved on."

"So, why did you come with me on this mission?"

"To protect you," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I had hurt you. And so I needed to protect you."

"Is that the only reason?" This confession was nice and all but I needed to know only one thing.

"I had sworn to protect all that I love. To give my life for theirs. There is no one on this earth who I would give more protection to than you." And then he bent down closer to my face and lightly pressed his lips to mine.

"Love you too, Comrade."

"When are you going to stop calling me that?"

XXX

After a steamy make-up make-out session, Dimitri made me a grilled cheese sandwich even though I had just finished my eggs and bacy. He said that if I didn't eat whatever Abe wanted me to, he'd kick Dimitri's ass and sue him for neglect of a sick person. "My father's the over protective sort, huh?"

"No. He's the rich over protective sort."

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes. Rich is worse. They have resources."

"Hmmm." I took a bite of my sandwich. I loved grilled cheese and Dimitri was as good a God in the kitchen as he was outside it. "I wonder what he would say if he found out I was in love with a Dhampir?"

A voice from the door cut in. "He'd say he already knew, that he was happy for you and hope's to walk you down the aisle."

I turned in my seat to see a smiling Abe leaning against the door. "So, I'm getting married now?"

He shrugged. "Just calling dibs." Cause who else would I call to walk me down the aisle? He looked at Dimitri. "You feeding her properly?"

He sighed. "Yes. As you can see, she's eating right now." They both turned to me just as I had started to lick the grease off my fingers, now that my sandwich was done. "Or, was."

"Good, good. Remember, Belikov, I'm watching you." He did the two finger thing pointing as his and then Dimitri's eyes. I held back an eyeroll.

"Abe, no girl wants her father to be keeping close examination of her weight. I'm fine. I like food. I'll eat."

"You better."

"I'm not sudden going to kneel over from starvation if I miss eating a single calorie in my meal plan." He had literally gotten someone to write out a meal plan for me. I had looked at it once, ripped it into little pieces and thrown it in the garbage so Dimitri couldn't follow it.

"I don't remember grilled cheese being on it." He glared at Dimitri.

"Which is why the meal plan no longer exists."

Abe turned his glare to me. "Then it's not my fault if you're too malnourished to attend Victor's trial."

I gapped. "He's on trial? Already? Yes!" I resisted the urge to jump up and down doing a happy dance.

"Yes. And this trial affects your fate. If he pleads guilty to murdering the Queen, you're off the hook. If he pleads innocent, well, there's no evidence that he did it."

"But he did!" I exclaimed, outraged.

"I know, but there's no _evidence_. But don't you worry, we'll figure something out. I'm not going to have you killed after all of this." And with that he left, before I could yell at him again for something he couldn't control.

"Uggh!"

"Rose, calm down. Here, eat another grilled cheese sandwich."

**Yay! Dimitri's stopped being an ass! Let's celebrate :D**

**Anyways, expect later updates starting around next week. This week isn't really much, just registration, then orientation and then half day. And then three day weekend.**

**Schools so weird. The only thing I'm looking forward to is English AP and design studies. **

**Review and give Darla a good start to the school year! **


	24. Ambrose

**Hey! Sorry for the late update but I did warn you… **

**Anyways, enjoy this lovelllly chapter. School's been great so far. You know, only one day of **_**actual **_**classes so 100% on the no homeworkness so far :D**

**I just need to thank my secret partner for all her help in this chapter especially (she's like, a twist genius) **

**Disclaimer: Je n'ai pas Richelle Mead (lol, fail French ****grammer. I have it next semester though…) **

Dimitri let out a soft groan. "Higher," I demanded, sucking in a quick breath as my stomach rolled and a trickle of sweat started to bead on my forehead. "Come on, the faster you do it the sooner you can let go."

"Oh, shut up." Still, I felt myself rise higher, his grip on my thighs tightening. If not for the fact they were almost at bruising point, I would have been thrilled at this.

"Jesus. I said _higher _not _harder_."

"If I go any higher and not harder, I'll drop you and then where would we be? Back in the hospital of course because of a broken neck. It's you're fault for being so short."

"Oh, shut up." I continued to try to grab onto the large branch that had fallen onto our roof last night in the storm. A storm that had apparently scared the tree so badly it let loose one of its biggest branches. We had been spending the last hour finding a way to get it down before it spontaneously caught on fire or somehow made the roof cave in. Dimitri claimed that it was ever important to have it off. There was no ladder and tall as Dimitri might be, he was nothing compared to a roof. There was nothing tall and stable enough to allow Dimitri the extra height and neither did me sitting on his shoulders.

And so here we were, Dimitri's arms straight out, shaking like a box of mice, holding onto my thighs because apparently I'd be too unstable if I just stood on his shoulders. Cause I wasn't already in a precarious situation. Note sarcasm.

I think he just wanted an excuse to touch my thighs. Really, he should have just asked.

I strained my arm to extend as far as it possibly could, once again praying for a go-go-gadget arm. I managed to grab onto a singular scraggly twig-branch and wrapped my sweaty hand around it. Pulling on it slightly, it caused the big-ass one to move further down the roof slightly before breaking off. I let out a heavy sigh. "I think this is useless. Just let me stand on your shoulders."

"No. Then you'll definitely break your neck along with getting my shirt dirty."

I let out a laugh. "Since when did you care about your shirts?"

"Since this became my favourite one that currently has no rips in it."

"Admit it, you just don't want my stinky feet by your face."

"Maybe," came his sheepish reply.

"I'm just gonna climb on the roof, kay?" Before he could yell his protests and many scenarios in which I would fall off and break my neck, I grabbed onto the edge and hauled my upper body onto the roof. Dimitri's hold on my thighs was now gone so I was able to wiggle the rest of my body onto the scratchy singles as well. I flipped onto my back and looked out at the view. It was a beautiful picture of trees, green pines and multicoloured aspens. The bright sun made it look welcoming and birds sang in the distance. The way the mountains glimmered in the distance because of the warm sun made me just want to lean back and stay there forever. My hair danced softly on my shoulders as a light wind breezed by. I shook myself and crawled towards the branch. Clutching the rough bark in my hand, I held it above my head for a split second before yelling out a loud "FORE!" that sent nearby birds flying and threw it off the roof with all my might. It landed with a crash, disturbing yet more wildlife, and Dimitri let out a small chuckle before demanding I come down before Abe murdered him for mistreatment after I rolled off the roof, breaking my neck along the way.

"You know, you should give my neck more credit. You know first hand how durable it is." I could practically feel his scowl. "Okay! Not funny! I get it. Help me down." I looked over the edge to see his arms eagerly outstretched, waiting for me to slide down so he could catch me. When I was back on the ground he scowled at my impulsiveness and I scowled back before walking into the sorry excuse for a house. Honestly, it may have seemed great at first but after a couple of days I realized just how small it was. Two small bedrooms. An okay sized kitchen and a small living room with the smallest bathroom you have ever seen. The only redeeming factor was that it managed to fit a bathtub with jets in it. And that it meant I _had _to be in close proximity to Dimitri at all times.

XXX

"Dimitriii," I whined, my cheek pressed against the cool counter top.

He sighed and looked up from his cowboy book. "What, Rose? Are you seriously hungry again? You just had like, three pizzas."

"Three and a half. But that's not the point." I lifted my head long enough to put my arms underneath it. My cheek was growing numb. "I think I'm having a donut withdrawal. Can't we get Abe to bring some? Maybe you can bake some…?"

He rolled his eyes. "Donuts are not my forte. I don't even know how to make them."

"Then learn."

"Why don't you? You're the one eating everything."

"Ha! You eat just as much as I do, if not more. And you know I can't cook. I'd probably burn the house down." Again, he rolled his eyes, not even bothering to reply. He flipped a page in his book. "Dimitriiii."

"_What_?" His patience was clearly not at its peak today.

"I'm _fucking _bored." I'd given up finding entertainment in watching Dimitri. Watching him read was just as boring as doing the reading myself.

"Then go tree-hugging or something. You're lack of creativity is not my problem."

"Ughhhh. Now I understand addicts. There is seriously nothing else to do in life." Ignored. Damn him and his reading. "Fine!" I threw my hands in the air. "I'll go build a tree house! Anything to escape cabin fever." I stomped out, unreasonably pissed. I was acting childish, I know, but really. Sitting around doing nothing all day is not a way to keep sane. And I like my sanity.

I stepped into the fresh air, air that wasn't currently directly shared with Mr. Reading Is Good For You, and walked into the throng of trees, leaves and needles crunching beneath my shoes. It felt nice to be in the open after so long in that small house with an infuriating man. Just cause he's a gorgeous Russian God doesn't make him any less infuriating. Maybe it makes him more so since he has a bigger ego than most men. Even though he controls it. Screw control though. Sometimes, you just gotta let go.

Once the cabin was out of sight, I let it slip out of mind and slid down to the soft ground, leaning against a non-pokey tree. My head fell back against the trunk and my eyes fluttered closed. Taking in a deep breath, I entered Lissa's head. _Lissa was lying on her bed, trying to figure out a way to free me of all my charges. A loud rapping on the door interrupted her thoughts and she got up, slightly annoyed. When she saw a flushed and breathless Adrian behind it, she immediately brightened up and ushered him in. "Lissa," he breathed out. "I think I've found the way to free Rose."_

"_Really?" she exclaimed. Pure happiness rushed through her. She'd finally have Rose again! "How?"_

_He held up a gleaming transparent black CD case with a DVD inside it. "This." She reached forward to grab it from his hand but he shook his head and pulled it back. "We need a private place with a DVD player and TV." Lissa rolled her eyes and motioned to her extraordinarily expensive set behind him. _

"_Private as can be." He nodded and moved towards it, placing the disc carefully in the slot, as if it held his soul and one scratch would kill him. He turned on the TV, motioned for Lissa to sit down and pressed play._

_A shuttering breath filled the air as Ambrose, the hot and spicy personal bloodwhore of Tatiana's, entered the screen. He was sitting in a chair with the backdrop of what, Lissa presumed, was his bedroom. He took another deep breath before letting out, "I've got a story to tell you all. This is my confession, my apology and my suicide letter, so listen closely. _

_First of all, I killed Queen Tatiana." _

_Lissa gasped and let out a soft "No, not Ambrose. He'd never do that to Rose."_

"_Second, Rose Hathaway had and has nothing to do with it._

"_After the court meeting where it was decided that Dhampirs would graduate at age sixteen, Rose exploded. She was inexpressibly pissed and confronted the Queen about it. At some point during their argument, the Queen called Rose a bloodwhore. Of course, Rose shot back. Said the she was 'one to talk' considering she had her own personal one. Me. Tatiana immediately called me to her and told me that I was being sent to some other place to avoid any more scandal than what had already taken place. I felt hurt and was angry at Rose for what she had done to me. I know she had never done it on purpose but still, I went to her room to confront her. _

"_I knocked on the door but there was no answer and so I turned the knob, expecting it to be locked. For some reason it wasn't. It turned smoothly in my hand and I pushed the door open. She must have forgotten to lock it. If she had, I might not have walked in and noticed a stake resting on her desk, might not have grabbed it (after putting on rubber gloves) and felt a sudden impulse. A sudden impulse to take things into my own hands and get revenge. Knowing Rose, I knew she'd never go anywhere without a stake and so she wouldn't miss this one too badly. And if she did, she could always just get another one. _

"_Anger and heartbreak blinded me. It's no excuse for what I did next, but as they say 'Love blinds even the most sensible of people.' _

"_I ran back to the Queen's room and her Guards let me in without a second glance, used to my arrivals. I had hid the stake within my clothing and when I stepped into the room I walked up to Tatiana, caressed her soft cheek one last time, ignoring her confused expression, and then drove the stake through her heart. As a previously trained Guardian, I knew perfectly well how to kill someone with it, Tatiana not being an exception. She fell to the ground, blood everywhere and I was engulfed in panic. What had I done? I had just killed the most important and powerful person in the Moroi world. And killed the woman I loved._

"_I ran into the bathroom and slowly washed every bit of blood that may have splattered onto me and removed my gloved, stuffing them into my pocket for later disposal. I walked back out and toward the hidden security camera in her room that was meant to help avoid situations like that one that had just taken down. I removed the disc, placed in my pocket, and walked out, waving politely at the Guardians as I went by. I was so calm, so serene. I really thought I had gone mental in that moment. _

"_After entering my room, I got rid of the gloves and hid the video footage. At that point I realized I had forgotten to take the stake out. I guess I just didn't want to touch her dead body. _

"_Later, I heard that Rose had been arrested for the murder of Queen Tatiana. As much as I was upset with her for being the reason I was to be sent away, I really hadn't meant her any harm. I sure as hell didn't want her to be executed for my impulsive crime. _

"_And so, wracked with guilt, I say my final goodbyes. _

"_Rose, I am so sorry for what my actions put you through and only hope this gets found before your execution date. I wish you luck on the Queens final mission for you. That, I assure you, was from the Queen herself._

"_All of society, I am sorry for taking away your Queen, She really was a kind and fair woman._

"_Sorrys are not enough, and so after this is over, I will take my life. _

"_Here is the footage from Tatiana's room, if you still need more evidence."_

_The screen flashed to a dim room. Tatiana was sitting on her bed, brushing her hair when a man, distinctively Ambrose, walked in. He seemed friendly, at first, but the sudden glint of the stake was unmistakable. It plunged through Tatiana's heart, a gasp barely audible before she fell to the floor. _

_And then the screen went blank._

_Lissa and Adrian were quiet for some time, just thinking about what they had just seen. Adrian broke the silence. "I just got it in my mail. It was labelled 'Confidential.' Dated today."_

"_So," Lissa's voice broke. "Ambrose?"_

"_After I watched this in my room, I sent people to his. He was found in his bathtub, wrists slit and dead."_

_Lissa let out a sob and Adrian wrapped her in his arms, comforting her._

"_Shh, Lissa." Words, unspoken, moved through the air. _Ambrose did what he did out of love for Rose. _Both of them shivered._

"_But, why did Victor say…?" Adrian just shook his head._

"Why indeed," I said out loud, coming back into my own head. I realized I was shivering along with them.

**Yayyyy, another chapter complete. This was just going to be a filler chapter but then I realized that what kind of person would I be if I just gave you a filler chapter after all this time?**

**Not a very nice one.**

**Yeah, the first part is pointless but… it shows the concern that Dimitri has for her and her neck.**

**Call Me Kat? Would you mind terribly if I asked (or begged) you to continue that little piece you were writing? It would be kind of… short if I ended it where you stopped and I think my mind just might implode if I tried to continue it. And even if it didn't, it would be fail blog worthy. Thanks :D **

**School tough. Darla's tired. She's helping rip out her fence this weekend. Her **_**long **_**weekend. Wanna make her feel better? Reviews always do.**


	25. Chinese Food

**Heyyy! Second day of school and already I've been dealt with 4 hours of homework and practically memorized everything about the imperial measuring system. Just letting all you imperial using folks that it is the most annoying, useless and pattern lacking thing I have ever had the displeasure to learn. No offense or anything. But you should expect this after five and a half hours of mind numbing conversions and word problems. Basically, I'm never moving to any place that doesn't have the metric system in place. All for the sake of my sanity. **

**Anyways, another chapter for you! I was going to put a more mature scene in (I did get a couple of good ones, both of which would have worked well in this) but after writing it out I realized that, well, along with it being very crappy it just didn't feel right in the story (or having it in my computer where my mom, or anyone else, could secretly creep upon my writing…)**

**So, enjoy :D And thanks to my secret partner for this idea :D**

**I have a cheerleader and a partner. Who shall be next to join my team? –insert mysterious spy music here-**

**Disclaimer: I am Darla. Not Richelle Mead. I own my ideas. That is one thing Mead cannot copyright.**

I burst through the door, flushed and panting. Turned out I had been out there for hours whereas I thought I'd only been an hour at most. The sun was starting to set, putting everything into a softer light. The door slapped the wall behind it from the force I had used and was about to start talking a mile a minute when my nose picked up on something it _really _liked. "Is that… pie?" I'm almost as bad as those dogs from Up! who drop everything for a squirrel.

Dimitri turned around, face smeared with flour that had obviously exploded. He smiled. "Yes. But something tells me I shouldn't let you have any. I thought you'd run away or something."

"Me? Runaway?" Yeah, it was one of my more well-known moments but runaway? From Dimitri? "Pish posh," I waved my hand distractedly and took off my muddy shoes before moving to peer in front of the oven, watching as the top of the pie turned golden brown.

He chuckled. "It won't be ready for another five minutes so save yourself from the face burn."

I turned my face away from the appealing sight and fixed my gaze on an equally (or more so) attractive one. "I've got some news. Big news."

He sat down on the counter top, listening. "Okay."

"Victor didn't kill the Queen."

His face automatically showed shock. "What? But he told you! He admitted it fair and square! Who was it then?"

"Ambrose."

His face darkened. "That," I saw him trying to come up with the perfect adjective that wasn't along the lines of 'sexylicious' and, obviously failing, continued, "guy that gave you the note from Tatiana?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Sent a video to Adrian with his confession and why he did it and all the evidence to convict him."

"Huh." He obviously had expected it as much as I had. "So, is he going to court?"

"No," my throat closed at the why. Dimitri cocked an eyebrow, silently asking me to continue. I felt tears burn as I chocked out, "'Cause he's dead." I bit my lip to stop it from shaking. Who cares if he killed the Queen? Or accidently framed me? I liked the guy.

"He's dead? Don't tell me Adrian avenged you."

For some reason that comment made me angry, maybe the bluntness of saying Ambrose was dead, or the scoffing way he asked about Adrian. "No! He fucking committed suicide because he felt so guilty." My voice softened, "He made a point to mention he never intended to hurt me, never mind get me executed." I was sitting on the floor now, resting against a cupboard. A handle dug into my shoulder but I ignored it. Not like I had the energy to move anymore as Ambrose's death finally started to sink in. A warm tear slid down my cheek.

Dimitri immediately jumped into action, coming up beside me and pulling me into his arms, running his fingers through my hair to calm me. "So, I'm assuming you got this all from Lissa?"

I nodded into his chest, letting out a soft, "Duh." I felt his smiling lips press to the top of my head.

"Well, he had the decency to clear your name before perishing."

I snorted. "Yeah, great way to explain it, Comrade. Thanks. And no, it does not make me feel better. I'd have been so much happier if Victor was the one that killed Tatiana."

We just sat, there, embracing by the warm oven until the timer went off. Dimitri slowly and carefully disentangled himself, not because he cared about the pie more than me but because he didn't want the house burning down with me in it. Or at all, if possible.

The oven door clanked as it slammed shut and Dimitri placed the steaming pie on the stove to let it cool off. I'll admit that the sight of Dimitri with flour on his face wearing pink oven mitts and a 'Kiss the Cook' apron really turned me on. Besides that, it was just a sight to see. Badass Strigoi killing ninja machine baking pie. "What would happen if I took a picture of this and sent it to Lissa? Do you think your reputation would go down the drain?"

Cutting the pie into eighths, he answered, "I think it would give away our location and ultimately end up with your death."

"Why? Because the court hasn't seen the video yet?"

"No, because I'd have to kill you to get your cell phone."

I smiled, feeling better with the banter. "True true. I wouldn't give up that piece of blackmail for anything."

"How about for a piece of pie?" He held an immediate life maker in his hands, traditional apple.

"Deal." I reached up and he placed the plate in my hands, handing down a fork after. I took a bite into its eternal yumminess and asked, "Where the hell did you learn to bake like this?"

"My mom." Why didn't that surprise me?

"Mamma's boy are we?"

"Well, I couldn't be a daddy's boy, now could I?"

I shut up and shoved some more pie into my mouth. After a minute, I asked, "So, what do you think they're going to do about… the video?"

Dimitri stared past me for a moment, lost in his mysterious thoughts. His fork lay spearing a piece of apple. "I don't know for certain. They'll probably watch it about ten more times, take notes from it, watch anything that could hinder or help them in their case before they release it. Abe's going to have to write all new questions for his trial." He looked back down at me. "But anyways, you shouldn't worry about this. If anything, this video assures your innocence." I nodded and lifted my plate to my face, pie done, and started to like the remaining sauce off. Dimitri rolled his eyes at my and plucked it from my hands, tossing it in the sink. "Go have a bath or something. I don't know how you managed it but you're filthy."

"Oh, so you have a problem with me being dirty now?"

He didn't miss the innuendo. He rolled his eyes and viciously waved his hand, telling me to 'Get out and take your Ipod with you."

I stuck my tongue out at him but did as he said, pushing myself to my feet and making my way to the bathroom after quickly picking up my Ipod. The tub was probably the biggest feature in the bathroom which basically meant it was just a bit bigger than the average sized person (gigantic for me and tiny for Dimitri.) I slowly took off my damp clothes, tossing them onto the floor. I turned the water on, making sure the water pouring out was burning hot, before slipping in, flinching as the hot water threatened to burn my skin. I leaned back in the water, the ends of my hair spreading out like a fan around me. I used a dry hand to place my earphones in and then turned the volume up, relaxing to the sounds of normal life while I washed weird-forest-living-life off my skin.

XXX

I stepped out of the steaming bathroom, knotting the cloth belt around my waist to close my bathrobe since I didn't think Dimitri would be pleased if I walked into the kitchen, baring it all. Well, he might be but I wasn't going to. Seemed a bit too bold, even for me. Running my fingers through my wet hair, I stopped dead in my tracks, mouth gaping, as I took in the view of the kitchen.

On the island counter (the only thing that could be called a 'table'), a dinner set for two shone in the light of the flickering candle. On the plates lay orange chicken, Chinese noodles and heaps of rice with stir fried veggies on top. Besides the fact that this particular dinner was my absolute favourite, I was amazed by the set up of the kitchen. Candles glowed all over, giving a romantic glow to the otherwise dark room. And the smell. Outside the smell of delicious Chinese food was the sweet smell of roses. Everywhere there was roses. On the island, the stove, around the candles. Rose petals were scattered all over the floor.

Dimitri stood off to the side in a black button up shirt and slacks, a red rose in his hand. "What do you think?"

I still couldn't take my eyes off the gorgeous scene in front of me. I shrugged, "Not bad." I smiled before Dimitri could make a hurt face and walked up to him, taking the rose lightly in my hand. "It may not be bad, but it is absolutely the most romantic thing you have ever done for me." His face split into a huge grin and I planted my lips against it, wrapping my arms around his neck.

Before the kiss could go to deep though, Dimitri pulled back, using his finger to play with my pouting lip. "Not now, Rose," he laughed, "you know this stuff is no good when it gets cold." I had all but forgotten about the food before Dimitri had mentioned it.

"All food is good, no matter the temperature," I urged.

He just laughed again, untangling himself from my arms. "Don't be ungrateful." He lead my by the hand to my bar stool and pulled it out for me. "Eat."

I looked down at myself, clad only in a cloth robe. "But I'm hardly dressed up for a dinner such as this."

He leaned down to whisper in my ear, his breath tickling me. "I think that you look perfectly sexy in your current attire."

My cheeks were as red as the rose I still held in my hand as I sat down in my offered chair. Dimitri sat down on the chair beside me, offering me the utensils wrapped in a dark red napkin. I smiled and took them, unravelling a fork for myself and leaving the knife resting on the napkin. I felt a rush of love towards Dimitri and what he had set up for me, knowing how distraught I was over Ambrose. I took a bit of orange chicken and said, "You really know how to cheer a girl up."

"Do I know how to make a girl know I love her?"

Those words sent my cheeks burning all over again. "Really? No fading?"

He smiled, "No fading," and bent down to give me quick peck on the lips, which I immediately latched onto and made deeper. This time though, he didn't pull back, instead wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me up to place me on his lap so that we didn't have to lean across our chairs. I wrapped my legs around him and tangled my hands in his hair, pulling him as close to me as humanly possible and then a bit. I was conscious of every body part pressed against me. His hips against my thighs, chest against chest, his strong arms against my back and grappling through my hair. I'd never felt more warm in my life than I did just now, pressed so closely against the man I loved. His presence alone set me on fire.

My tongue flicked against his bottom lip and his mouth opened, giving me access to his warm mouth. Tongue against tongue, lips against lips, hips grinding against hips. But even though it was becoming one of the best moments of my life, my body had to betray me and break apart for air. My chest heaved violently as it gasped, trying to take in as much air as possible. Dimitri's lips roaming against my throat caused it to hitch again and I moaned, tilting my head back to give him greater access to my neck as I let my hands freely roam the hard muscles of his back, his neck, his soft hair. After I couldn't take it anymore, I pulled his head back up and crashed my lips against his again, feeling his stubble rub across my palm. I bit his lip lightly, causing him to moan. My hands traveled down his chest, popping a button every time my fingers came in contact with one. Soon, his shirt lay open, revealing his perfectly tanned and toned chest, one that he had worked on his entire life. I ran my hands over each sculpted muscle, the heat burning through my fingers and all the way down to my lower stomach. Dimitri soft tongue pried my lips open again and he ravaged through it. I opened my mouth wide, not afraid to convey how much I wanted him, loved him.

I slid his shirt off his shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. My tongue traced patterns on his now exposed skin as I sucked and kissed his shoulder. I slowly made my way up his neck, to his jaw and back to his lips where Dimitri kissed me hard. I could feel my lips bruising and I broke apart, a thin string of saliva hung between us before I wiped it away. We were both breathing hard, forehead against forehead. Dimitri had a huge grin across his face and his breath fell in puffs against my nose. "You know, it isn't really fair how you can undress me, and not allow me to return the favour."

I snorted. "Undress me once and undress it all."

His eyebrows rose at that. "You mean…?" Dimitri blushed. Like, honest to god, blushed.

I smiled slyly. "Yes. This is all I've currently got." And when I said that, I was suddenly conscious of the fact that while I wore no underwear, my legs were spread far and wide around Dimitri. I didn't dare look down.

He smiled slyly right back at me, a hand rubbing my hip. "So, if I can't undress you, I dare say I should be able to just pass by the clothing, right?" Before I could answer though, his hand started to move into the top of my robe. I felt his warm and callused fingers dance across the flat part of my chest. I glared at his teasing and kissed his earlobe before starting to suck on it, hoping to tease him enough to make him stop it towards me. I must have gotten my message across because his hand slowly moved lower to cup my breast.

_SLAM!_

We both froze before quickly jerking our heads around, all our hands returning quickly to ourselves, to see a much paler than normal and completely outraged Abe, standing behind me at the door. "This wasn't quite the welcome committee I was expecting after having Chinese dropped off for you guys. Mind you, it doesn't even look like you ate any of it."

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Abe put a hit on Dimitri right this moment. His face clearly showed that he was thinking about it.

**Yay for being caught by your dad while making out with a man 7 years older than you!**

**Anyone have a story like that? Put it in your review to help lighten the load of learning about globalization and random math stuff :D**

**So, if you didn't already get the memo from the past 24 chapters, I daresay you aren't being very observant: REVIEWWW! **


	26. Zmey

**I'm backkk :D **

**Finally managed to finish a long enough chapter to update. I've been writing a paragraph here and there when I had time so yay! It is a bit longer too.**

**Why do I even go to school? I do most of my work at home…**

**But you guys don't want to listen to me, you want to read. So enjoy!**

"What'd you expect? Small cabin, two people who you said you were all for getting married…" I said, hoping beyond hope that Abe didn't set him aflame or something with his ninja moroi powers. Come to think of it, what was Abe's element?

"I said I wanted to walk you down the aisle, not walk in on my just barely legal daughter making out with her previous mentor." Ouch. I felt Dimitri flinch under my hand that rested lightly on his chest. "And Dimitri," his gaze swivelled to stab him. "You knew full well that I was coming back to speak with Rose. Did this really feel like an appropriate moment…?"

I raised an eyebrow at Dimitri, who shrugged. "Got caught up in the moment." He didn't seem near as embarrassed as me. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was more scared for his life than anything else. By the look in his eyes, I was surprised he wasn't already on his knees begging for forgiveness.

He rolled his eyes. "Young people. They never change, no matter what generation, do they?" He seemed to go back in time to his memories of him and his… lover. I refused to think of him and my mom in a situation like this.

"Um… I wouldn't know, Dad. Being this generation and all."

He ignored this and continued to change the subject, surprising me. Here I was, thinking Dimitri was going to be a puddle of nothing on the floor once Abe was through with him. But I guess there wasn't much he could punish me for, since he was the almighty Zmey who also happened to impregnate my mom. If anything, he'd be the biggest hypocrite of all. "Anyways, before this situation arose before my previously virgin eyes," I snorted, "I was going to discuss the happenings of court and your futures." He had my attention with the whole 'if you don't listen, I will _destroy_ your futures' attitude radiating from him. I got off of Dimitri, making sure my robe stayed closed, no need for Abe to see that much, and plopped down on my chair. It was now cold from my long absence.

Abe's face relaxed some and he continued, all business now. "Victor's trial takes place tomorrow. He his charged with escaping from prison, which happens to be illegal, the torturing of a Dhampir and will be questioned to indicate whether charges on the murder of Tatiana are legitimate and required." He looked at me and I braced myself, knowing what he was going to say next, "We will show Ambrose's video then, to show that they are not."

"Won't I have to be at court to show as a witness to my… torture?" I asked, tentatively, not wanting to go, to relive it all.

He shook his head. "No. The guardians that accompanied Adrian and Dimitri shall suffice. Adrian will be witness as well. You, currently, are not safe to return to court. After Amborse's video is settled, debated on and he is charged as guilty, you will be innocent of those charges." He bit his lip, as if he was debating sharing the next information.

"I will be cleared of those charges…" I urged him on.

"You will be cleared of those, but not of others. At least, not unless you make a really good argument saying that they were required and if you didn't, the world would surely parish."

Not liking the sound of that. Dimitri asked, "What are the other charges?"

"Breaking out of jail, assaulting many Guardians, all that stuff that seems to be the norm for Rose." I smiled at that.

"I think I'm getting off easy, personally. Like, come on, I influenced moroi to perform illegal craft, abused alchemist connections, refused direct orders, the list goes on." Wow, Rose. Look at you, bragging about your criminal history.

"Those aren't technically illegal." Dang. Wait, shouldn't I be happy about that? All of what I did, I only managed to break two rules, all of which I did during the first five minutes of my escaping. "_Anyways_, once I make sure it's safe for you to come to court, I'll come pick you up. You'll go to your trials etc and after some bribing and sugar coating everything you've done, I'll make sure you get your Guardianship reinstated. Can't have my little girl going around all shamed up. Bad for my image." This time, Dimitri snorted. That brought Abe's attention back to him though. "You, unfortunately, are also going to have to go to trial for your charge of being an escapee's accomplice." I was shocked at this. If Dimitri was an accomplice, what about Lissa and Adrian and the Belikovs? Sidney was safe. He seemed to read my mind. "Everyone else is safe. The guardians you assaulted don't remember Lissa and Adrian, just that they felt really disoriented and tired. Your family, "he nodded at Dimitri, "was taken under arrest for knowingly helping criminals." Dimitri cursed in Russian. "They said outright they helped you and weren't ashamed to hide away two innocent people whom they loved dearly. You should be proud of their courage and love for you." Dimitri smiled at that.

Abe clapped his hands, indicating he was finished his little news run. "Well, I'm feeling a bit hungry. Any food left? Of course there is!" He walked into the kitchen, helping himself to the food still in the boxes with his fingers. "This stuff is really good, you should eat it," he said while spooning some rice into his mouth (with my spoon, might I add).

I looked at Dimitri, who looked at me and we simultaneously picked up our abandoned cutlery and joined Abe in the dinner eating.

Now, I'm sure you all have had an awkward moment before but I know none of you have had an awkward moment like this. Just think of the tension wrapping around you during the aftermath of your rich, blackmarket dad walking in on you and your lover making out, laying down your criminal charges and then sitting down all homely-like in the romantic setup of the kitchen with you.

Yeah.

Abe picked up one of the petals on the counter top, sniffed it. "How many roses did you pluck?"

"Great way to put it, Abe," I muttered.

Dimitri just shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe a dozen. I went around to all the rose bushes in the back."

"There are rose bushes in the back?" I asked.

"Yeah. You know, in the garden?"

"With the veggies?"

"Yeah."

"Ah. That's why I didn't saw them." Me? Pick vegetables? Never.

More silence ensued and I couldn't even pay attention to the yummy, now slightly cold, Chinese food in front of me. You know it's bad when I can't even think about food.

Abe, finally feeling the pressure of silence, abruptly stood up and said, "Well, I best be off. I have plenty to get ready for." He made his way to the door, and turned, hand on the door knob. "Oh, and _behave._ Please, my fathery mind refuses to process my daughter getting all frisky with a man."

"I've been frisky with men years before I met Dimitri. Me plus frisky is old news."

Abe just fixed me with a glare, eyed Dimitri meaningfully and swiftly exited, yelling a quick, "And get some sleep tonight! You guys are moving tomorrow!" The door slammed shut behind him.

I twirled my fork between my fingers as we both stared at the door. "I thought he was picking us up when we were safe?"

"Well, he never said _where _he was picking us up from…" The fork suddenly fell with a clatter, both of us jumping at the sudden assault of noise. Dimitri and I both jumped down to retrieve it, bumping into each other as we tried to take up the same space. Despite the cool floor beneath my bare feet, heat immediately washed over me as our previous arrangement sudden rushed back to me at that touch. The feel of his mouth against mine, on my neck, his hands roving my body. I froze for a second, my body longing for the reality of those memories. Dimitri used my distraction to pick the fork up and tossed it towards the sink. It banged loudly on the stainless steel, a perfect shot by a perfect god. He turned his gaze back to mine and returned my sly smile.

"Now, where were we?" I asked, before crushing my lips to his. Not that either of us needed reminding.

XXX

A loud rapping ripped me from my fog of sleep. I nuzzled against the warm muscle beneath me, trying to make the noise go away, but being all Guardian-tastic, I was of course, immediately awake and aware of my surroundings. My cheek pressed happily against Dimitri's chest, his strong arms wrapped around me, the soft rise and fall as he breathed. _Rap, rap, rap. _"Rose! Answer the door! You took the key out from under the mat." I groaned, knowing that I wasn't going to be able to avoid this.

I lifted my head up, resting them on the backs on my hands, still half-lying on top on Dimitri. "We should get that," he said softly, his fingers dancing through my hair.

"Yeah, but I'd rather stay here with you." No truer words have ever been said.

"Me too, but I don't really want your father breaking down the door to see this."

"Mmmm, I guess. I think we already scarred him with yesterday."

He smiled and slowly got up, gently lifting me off him and placing me back on his bed, his spot still burning with his body heat. I breathed in his scent from his pillow. I studied his back as he picked through his closet, grabbing a pair of shorts and a shirt to pull on over his nude body. I sadly watched as his beautiful butt was covered with jean shorts, he being Mr. Commando, and he left the room, a shirt making its way over his head. I sighed, regretfully leaving the warmth of the bed and the steam of the night with it. Standing up, I stretched, arms reaching above my head. I did a quick look around for my pile of clothes before I remembered that my robe had been discarded early into the night in the kitchen. I'd happily throw on one of Dimitri's shirts but I'd still be without pants. Or underwear. Quickly, I cracked open the door to see Dimitri just placing his hand on the doorknob, yelling "Coming, coming" at Abe, who was still trying to break the door down with his fist.

"Dimitri," I hissed. He paused and looked over his shoulder at me. "I have no clothes."

His eyes widened for a split second before yelling, "Just a sec," at the door and dashing into my room. He quickly returned with a set of the most provocative lingerie Lissa packed me and a normal V-neck and straight leg jeans. I raised my eyebrows questionably at him as I pulled them on, Dimitri secretly watching out of the corner of his eye. He shrugged and said, "Grabbed the first thing I saw," with his Guardian mask which immediately made me think otherwise. I dropped the topic and motioned at the discarded robe. He jumped up and disposed of that as well. He did a quick look around for anything else that might be used as evidence for our night before returning to the door and yanking it open. Now that the noise had stopped, I realized that Abe must have hit that door bloody.

"If I have broken knuckles now, I'm charging you with the bill," Abe stated, not happy with the wait.

"And I'd get you to pay any hospital bills I get so you'd end up paying for it anyways," I retorted, not happy with his interruption.

"I do remember saying to get lots of sleep last night. Moving, remember?"

"We did get…some sleep." I flickered my eyes at Dimitri and we both smiled.

"Not lots by the looks of it. It's noon and you still have bags under your eyes."

"Hmph. Not the way to compliment and lady in the morning."

"Ladies don't make gentlemen wait at their doors."

"Well, sorry. If I knew you wanted to see me running around naked I would have let you in myself," I said, not thinking. Geez, Rose. Way to dig yourself into a hole.

"What! I believe I told you two to _behave_." He glared at Dimitri who, to his credit, only shrunk back in his pupils, where it cannot be seem by the average man, or moroi. Or hopefully Abe, even though he watches for these weaknesses. He obviously wanted to yell at Dimitri, maybe attack him or use some sort of blackmail material but thought better of it, maybe remembering that I was perfectly legal and we were both one of the most badass Guardians and we'd quickly restrain and dispose of anything if need be, including blackmail material and possibly him. He continued glaring before finally getting back to the reason he was here. "Well, since I expected you two to already have your stuff packed and the house clean, our schedule will be set back a bit. But no worries, I'll whip you guys into shape. Now, get your asses moving before I leave you here to rot. None of the vegetables grow in the winter." He swiftly walked in and plopped himself on the couch, pulling out a book from god-knows-where.

Dimitri and I looked at each other again before continuing on back to our rooms. I quickly stuffed all my clothes and other possessions into my suit case and was about to make my bed (shhh, let's pretend I already washed the sheets) when large hands slid down my waist to my hips and past my jean line, playing at the lace he had chosen for me. "You know, these look really nice on you, both in my mind and reality." His breath tickled my ear and the thought that he was thinking about me in them made me shiver happily. "So good, I might just have to take them off." His breath left my ear as he shoulder checked behind him. He turned back to my ear. "Sadly, it'll have to be later."

"Much, much later if you guys don't get going." I jumped at Abe's voice as it suddenly played contrast to Dimitri's soft, seductive one. "Chop chop, people. I told you to pack your clothes, yes, but I wasn't counting the ones you're already wearing!" he exclaimed, frustrated. He waved Dimitri out and shut the door once he exited. Abe turned to me with that look that said he was about to give me 'the talk'. Before he could get a word out of his opened mouth, though, I interrupted.

"Don't even try to tell me I'm too young. Mom had me around this age. And let's not forget you're the reason why. And I can't have kids with Dimitri, so there's no issue."

He glared and tried at another card. "Just because you can't get pregnant doesn't mean you should act like rabbits."

I snorted. "You make it sound like we're always at it."

"Every time I come around you are."

"You've been around, what, three times? Two out of three. And the two were the only times so," I stuck out my tongue at him and continued with my clothes.

He sighed. "I don't like seeing my little girl being a big adult. I never really got the chance to have you as a little girl, to enjoy your innocence. I got to meet the grumpy, hormonal, determined teenager right off the bat. No building up to it. So don't blame me for my concern."

I glared at him. "I am not a grumpy, hormonal teenager."

He smiled. "Well, at least you admit to determined."

I smiled back. "Well, no one can stop me from getting what I want."

"And I believe that whole heartedly. I think you get it from me."

I rolled my eyes at him. "At least I can say I made my badass name on my own."

"And what would you do if I said you got that from me as we-" A pillow smacking his face shut him up.

"I'd do that. Now, since you were the one that said we'd better hurry up, don't you think you're being quite the distraction?"

He rolled his eyes and waved. "I'll give you fifteen minutes before I expect your bags at the front, ready to be packed into the car." He left and, in fifteen minutes, I was shoving my bag into the trunk, trying to get it to fit around Dimitri's bag and all the random stuff Abe stored. Four spare tires, a complete tool box, a gazillion spare stakes, a box labelled 'private and confidential', no doubt housing numerous blackmailing material, and a tub full of blood stain removal formula.

I pointed at the tub, "Do I want to know?"

"No. Probably not," he answered. I shut up and got into the backseat beside Dimitri, hands all proper in my lap, thinking up reasons for Abe to have such things in his car.

**Any guesses or morbid reasons you guys have for the blood stain removal formula?**

**And seriously, anyone know what Abe's element is? So mysterious….**

**So! I'm sorry for the delay but please still review. It's no good to punish the writer...**

**It is indeed possible to have 4 and a half hours of math homework, believe it or not. I never actually thought it was possible until recently, when I had 4 and a half hours of math homework.**

**DX **

**REVIEWWWWW**

**xoxo Darla**


	27. Zentastic

**Yay! Darla updated! Exactly a week since last UD. **

**Happy? I sure am.**

**It makes me so sad that I can't update as much because of school. Sigh. At least I'm enjoying my classes, right?**

**So, you're all saying get on with it, screw the ANs, so without further ado *drum * Chapter 27, ZENTASTIC!**

***the crowd goes wild***

I watched through the tinted kitchen window as Abe drove off into the setting sky. Everything had that orangeish hue that came with the ending of human day, the beginning for Moroi. I sighed, my breath fogging a spot on the window, and turned to face Dimitri. He stood leaning against the counter, also staring out the window. He was worried. Worried about me and the trial that would be soon to follow if I decided I didn't want to live on the run for the rest of my life. Zero worried about himself, he immediately collected me into his arms at the sight of my glum yet anxious expression. I was going to be free again. A Guardian. Able to see Lissa and my other friends again. Have my normal hair, even though it was probably eternally fried from the treatment of hair dye. I pressed my face into Dimitri's chest, revelling in the warmth his body provided me. I was finally going to be safe. Finally going to be able to live my life with Dimitri. Really, what else could life throw at us to keep us apart? Wait, don't answer that. I don't want to know.

If I was going to be free, safe, why was I filled with such a feeling of… sadness? Sadness wasn't good. This wasn't a time to feel sadness. Shit, Rose, why are you feeling depressed when you should be filled with so much joy and excitement? Count your blessing, Rose. One: You are currently snuggling with Dimitri. The moment you're back under the Moroi law that'll be, well, illegal. Not necessarily illegal but difficult and looked badly upon. I can deal with that. I've always done things that are looked down upon. I am the meaning of looking bad. Not physically per say but… continuing on.

Two: You have tons of friends waiting for you back home. Adrian's going to be pissed. What should I do about him? Lissa will be ecstatic but all her time will be now filled with Jill and court crap, now that she has a sibling. No Rose time. I might have Eddie, but I don't know if he's still mad at me or not. And Christian is out of the question.

Three: I will soon be a Guardian again. My reputation may be forever tarnished and who knows what Rose Hathaway will mean when I get back. Maybe my name will represent people who did what was right to the very end. A tale of victory always being served to those deserving and strong. It could also mean breaking every rule that can be broken in any situation. A tale of undisciplined girls that had so much potential but managed to throw it all out the window for impulsive actions and rogue notions.

Huh. No wonder I was so depressed.

I pushed my face deeper into Dimitri's chest and squeezed my arms a little bit tighter.

"Dimitri," I said softly.

"Yeah?" he responded, also whispering softly.

"Everything's going to be shit when we get back, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It is. Did you count your blessings?" Same old Zentastic Dimka.

"Yes. That's what made me realize everything is shitty."

"Huh. I've never needed a back up plan for that technique."

"Zen isn't one hundred percent effective." Score one for Rose.

"Guess not. Nothing is a hundred percent anymore."

"Promise me you will be."

"I promise. I've left you too many times to not be."

"Good." I took one more deep breath before pulling back and looking up at him. "Wanna take my mind off the fact that Victor is going to be on trial in a couple of hours?" I asked, suggestively trailing my hand down his chest, resting it on his lower stomach.

He smiled, flashing me his pearly whites. "You know, if we keep this up, Abe will be correct when he says we're as bad as rabbits."

"That's fine. I think rabbits have the right idea," I grinned as I grabbed his hand and dragged him down the hall.

Maybe life wasn't as crappy as I thought it was.

XXX

The slam of the door jerked both of us into motion, first grabbing a stake and then silently pulling our clothes on. Our eyes met for a split second before we automatically took on a Guardian partner stance, him going forward and listening for anything outside the bedroom door, me being backup in case he was attacked. I wasn't nauseous so I knew it wasn't a Strigoi, hell it could just be Abe. It probably was but we could never be too careful.

I heard a gasp/girly scream from outside and Dimitri's shoulders suddenly relaxed and the arm holding the stake lowering back to his side. He turned back to look at me and smiled. "Just Abe."

I shoved my stake into my belt and followed Dimitri into the kitchen where Abe had an annoyed yet happy expression on his face. "Huh. I thought Justin Beiber had given us a surprise visit." I said, swinging onto a chair at the table.

He just glared at me. "I take it you were one of the people waiting to welcome your dear father with offensive stances holding stakes, ready to kill me with them?"

"Well, yeah. When you enter the home of two trained Guardians, you're suppose to make yourself known. You know how the human couples do it? 'Honey, I'm home!'"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry but-"

"Kay!" Dimitri interrupted, "are we going to continue bantering or is Abe going to fill us in on what happened at the trial?"

"Thank you, Dimitri. As you probably expected, he was found guilty of all charges, except murdering Tatiana. Ambrose's video provided a very… interesting reaction. At first people were in disbelief, refusing to think that someone of his status could do such a thing. Surely, they thought, someone of such close contact with the Queen wouldn't dare. Everyone who knew Tatiana as a person loved her dearly. Eventually though, they took in the facts. There was video prove, not edited, a recorded and video confession, not edited, a suicide, obviously true, and more than enough evidence to be convinced that Ambrose did indeed kill the Queen. They still need to go through it but if Rose stepped onto Royal grounds right now, she would not be killed due to reasonable doubt on her account.

"Rose," he continued, staring right at me, "You're trial is tomorrow after they come to a conclusion on Ambrose. Everyone but a few are confident on your innocence. Some believe you manufactured that video and somehow complused Ambrose to confess and kill himself." Abe rolled his eyes. "Just look all good girl like and plead that you did what you had to do in order to maintain an order given to you by the Queen herself and that if you didn't, they would have killed you out of fear, causing them to lose the only one truly worthy enough to protect Lissa, the oldest Dragomir, and if not for you she would have stayed the last."

"Deep," I said. Dimitri nodded in agreement.

"I'm sure you'll get off most charges, that worst that could happen is that you get thrown in jail for a couple of days or get a mega big fine, which I would cover. I heard you Guardians don't make much, even when you're working. _My _Guardians make much more money for their skills at keeping me alive. So far, it's working." He smirked. I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Sadly." He ignored me. "Dimitri, you're trial is right after Rose's. Chances are, you'll get a minimal charge for helping an escaped criminal, no matter the innocence or intent of said criminal. I shall cover that as well."

Dimitri shook his head. "You do not have to do that. I can cover my own charges." Did men not see the chance at getting free money through their haze of pride?

"Nonsense. It is my thanks for helping and protecting my daughter."

"I did it because I wanted to. I don't need your thanks." He glared, begging him to just back down.

"Well, then graciously accept my gift," Abe retorted. Ohh, a gift. What other outrageous things will the Pride Wars lead to next?

"Well, if it's a gift…" I attempted to raise an eyebrow at him, surprised at his quick give in, never mind my earlier question of male stupidity. He shrugged. "Hotel rooms, gas, cars, food, the fact that I haven't worked for quite a while. It all adds up. Or minuses you might say."

"I could have easily helped contribute-"

"Shh!" Abe suddenly hissed. Both Dimitri and I immediately fell silent, blood and adrenaline rushing through my veins at the sudden threat of danger. My ears went out, searching for any disturbance of sound, of an intruder. I heard the breeze of wind shaking leaves, a hoot of an owl, a soft scuffling of feet, many feet, moving to the doors and windows, trapping us in. Surrounding us. I looked a Dimitri, the startled expression on my face mirrored back at me. He shrugged his shoulders, as confused as I was, and drew out his stake just as a gruff, loud voice shouted, "Rose Hathaway, Dimitri Belikov, you are hereby under arrest by the will of the Royal Court. Put your weapons down and put your hands above your head. If you do not come willingly, we will force you."

**Sorry it's not long (at all) but I wanted to get something posted up for you guys, even if it's not as high of quality as usual.**

**You still love my cliffies? I know I do :D **

**Tell me how much you love them in a **_**review**_**!**

**And the new season of Bones started tonight! No spoilers please. My mom won't let me hook the TV back up so I have to wait till tomorrow to watch it on the computer D:**


	28. Royal Idiots

**Yay, another UD! Wooooot!**

**Green Tea ice cream = amazing invention. Tastes nothing like green tea but absolutely delicious.**

**Anonymous Reviewer Lola: Thank you! I really do feel happy when people love my story enough to read from chap 1 – 27 in one sitting. So many of you get in trouble because of me :P. And I believe you are the only anonymous Lola… :D**

**Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead. But this is my fanfiction.**

Fuck was the only thought that was running through my mind. My heart was hammering, my body clenching in the anticipation for the fight that I was most definitely going to give. "How did they find us? I thought this place was all secure and unfindable?" I asked.

Abe shook his head. "I don't know. They probably followed me or snuck a tracking bug into my clothes. It was stupid for me not to think they'd use me to find you after they found out I had a working connection with you and your whereabouts."

"Yes, it was very stupid," Dimitri said. "I thought you off all people would know better, be able to see these things coming. But no, you endangered us all. Rose is not safe, and it is your fault."

"Woah, Comrade. Going a bit far in the accusations aren't we? I mean, yeah he made a mistake but I'm on trial tomorrow. It's not like they're going to kill me."

"Just because they can't kill you, doesn't mean they can't do anything else. He put my Roza in danger and there is no way around that." He door shook with the first of their attempts to break it down. "No one can do that and not have to fear my wrath. They," he nodded towards the shaking piece of wood separating us from a large group of heavily armed Guardians, "will feel it for being the danger."

That was deep. I was going to say something else but just then, the door gave one final violent shake before crashing to the ground and a mob of buff men rolled in.

We all immediately fell into defensive positions, forgetting any tiffs. All of us were surrounded. I kicked and lashed out to anything I could hit, shaking off those I hadn't gotten down on the first blow. Seven against one. Six against one. Five against one. Sweat poured down my forehead, clung to my back. One of the Guardians kicked out at my side and I spun, grabbing his foot and yanking it upwards. He instantly lost balance and fell, allowing me to turn my attention back to the remaining four who were keeping up a good fight and were obviously not as wiped as I was already. I blocked another hit, sent one out, broke a nose, crunched a collarbone, knocked someone out. More came in. Dimitri was faring well so far but I could see that he was slowly starting to become exhausted. Screw Dhampir and Guardian stamina, we had slept the night in a care and spent the morning 'exercising', never mind fighting off a dozen well rested Guardians. Abe was sending pots and pans and anything else in the kitchen flying at the door as more Guardians started spilling in. Our efforts weren't enough and the moment a rib cracking blow hit my side and I fell to the ground, I knew it was over.

XXX

My cheek was cold. Numb, I think. I tried rubbing it but found my cheek was blocked of. Some sort of door was between my hand my cheek. What weird contraption did they have like that? I opened my eyes and found my answer: a cold, stone floor of a jail cell. I groaned and pushed myself up, rubbing my cheek to check that it wasn't actually on the other side of some invisible wall.

I looked around, took in the steel bars, the miniscule window, bared also, the crappy cot with a tattered blanket on top. And the unenclosed toilet in the corner so that everyone could watch badass Rose take a pee.

All for my enjoyment during my stay in the Royal Court jail.

I sat up all the way, observing how I was lying on the floor, too far away from the bed to have rolled off. That means they must have unceremoniously thrown me in, on the floor, while I was unconscious. When the hell had I fallen unconscious? "Rose?" I scrambled to my feet, rushing to the bars keeping me away from the rest of the world and almost cried when I saw Adrian walking down the hall. As soon as he saw my face, he started running, hugging me as best as he could and giving me a quick kiss on the lips. "Back in jail, are we? Always knew this was where your fate laid."

"Oh, shut up, Adrian. No need to ruin our tearful reunion my mentioning how criminal I am."

"Not a very good one by the amount of times you've been thrown in."

"What? Twice? Escapes equalling half of imprisonments is pretty good."

He rolled his eyes. "It's good to see you. In person."

I smiled, genuinely happy, despite the conversation I knew was impending. "You too. Really good." I said impending, not immediate.

"Your trial's in an hour. You ready?"

My face plummeted. "In an hour? I just regained consciousness five minutes ago! No, I'm not ready but I haven't been ready for anything that's happened in the past months."

"That's my Rose." I managed not to flinch at the 'my', but he read my aura anyways. His face saddened, almost breaking my heart. I took his hand, opening my mouth to speak but he cut me off. "I know, I know. You're with Belikov now. Trust me, I saw it coming. I've know the whole time that it would happen eventually and it was inevitable with the amount of time you guys were spending together." A light smile played at his lips. "You are pretty irresistible. You want something, you get it."

I smiled lightly back, but it was forced. "I'm really sorry, Adrian. I truly do love you I just…"

"Love him more, right?" I nodded, not able to meet his eyes. "It's okay, I get it. You've always been his. You went out with me so that you could get the funding you needed to save him. I always knew that you gave yourself to me for him. Everything always led back to Dimitri and trust me, I don't blame you. It'll always be the same for me. I may find someone else who I love, like you love me, but I'll always be led back to you, like you to Dimitri." His words, though true, hurt. I felt guilty that I couldn't love him the way he wanted me to, the way I wanted to love him. But facts were facts and I couldn't live without Dimitri.

The only thing I could say was, "I'm sorry." A tear slid down my face. "I really am sorry, Adrian. If things were different, if… if," he placed a hand on my cheek.

"Shh, Rose. I get it. I really do. I can see that you really mean it. But I refuse to have you feel sad or guilty about it, okay? Okay?"

I nodded, wiping away the tears falling down my face. "Shit, I'm gonna look like crap for my trial. Think they'll take pity on me if they see I've been crying?" I tried to laugh, but failed.

Adrian did better, managing to smirk. "No, probably not. But we can always hope."

"Why'd they lock me up, anyways? They know I'm not the killer so…?"

"They couldn't have a criminal lurking so close to home not under lock and key. Just because you didn't kill the Queen, doesn't mean you aren't dangerous. And you haven't been officially deemed innocent yet. But don't worry, after today you'll be a free Guardian."

"I better get some compensation for all the crap they made me go through."

"We don't do compensation. But, if you want, I can make it up to you later tonight, in my bedroom, alone."

I slapped his arm, though secretly happy to have easily made our way back to our 'old' relationship. You know, the one where Adrian continually makes inappropriate comments to get into my pants and I continually reject him? "Get out, Ivashkov. I've got very important things I need to attend to in this lovely jail cell of mine."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that code for 'I gotta pee and don't want you to watch me'?"

"Yes."

He smiled. "Then I'm staying."

I rolled my eyes. I was about to return with a traditional Rose retort when the soft footfalls of a Guardian echoed down the stairs at the end of the hall. We both snapped our heads towards the sound and watched as a tall, blonde Guardian, walked to my cell. "Hathaway, it's time for you to make your way to the court room. Prince Ivashkov, I have to ask you to leave." Adrian nodded and waved as he exited. The Guardian turned back to me and sighed, as if this bored him to death. "Back wall, hands placed above your head. Trying anything tricky right now will not benefit you so I don't recommend it."

I refrained from rolling my eyes and did as he said, placing my hands above my head and my feet shoulder width apart. I heard the door rattle open as the Guardian stepped in and the cool metal around my wrist as he snapped the cuffs shut. Satisfied that I was now properly constrained, he took my elbow and led me out of my cell, up the stairs and to the front of the jail. There, we were met with a group of three Royal Guardians. I assumed they were to escort me to the court room since we immediately all started walking in a pretty little circle, me in the middle, across the perfectly mowed lawn. I didn't like the setting they were placing me in. Portraying me as a criminal in front of everyone was not going to help me get out of any charges. By, hey, at least I wasn't the Queen's murderer anymore, right?

We marched into the building and went straight to the back door to where the trialee was taken to enter. Soon, I was urged in and I was looking upon the faces of my friends, my family and the rest of the hot shots in the moroi world who thought me important enough to watch my trial. To my left sat the jury, aka royal idiots and in the table in front of me sat Abe. I smiled weakly. The overwhelming noise of chatter abruptly stopped as everyone realized I was here.

"Order!" the Judge-Lady called out unnecessarily. I didn't know her. She was, obviously, Moroi with long, light brown hair with grey brown eyes, tall, thin build. I had no idea by looking at her if she was Royal or not but either way, she held herself as an apposing authority speaker. We immediately went through the whole 'do you swear to god that you won't lie' crap etc. I held back multiple eye rolls and sighs.

"Rosemarie Hathaway," I wanted to hiss when she used my full first name, "how do you plead to breaking out of jail, assaulting multiple Guardians and murdering Queen Tatiana?"

"Guilty, guilty and innocent respectfully." Abe had told me just to plead guilty in hopes of getting off on smaller fees and punishments but I was kind of shocked that they asked me about Tatiana. I mean, wasn't my innocence already cleared?

She nodded and made a note on her paper. "Where were you the day you broke out of-" she shook her head. "Alright, we're skipping formalities about alibis because, obviously, you were breaking out of jail the day you broke out of jail. _Why _did you break out of jail? What were your intentions?"

"To find Lissa's sibling, giving her her proper place in Court and to avoid being unfairly executed." Short, simple and to the point. Just keep your head, Rose.

"You were aware of Lissa having a sibling for how long?"

"Since the day of my first trial."

"And how did you become aware of such valuable information that no one else possessed?"

"I got a note from Tatiana."

"_Queen _Tatiana. And, pray tell, how did you receive a note from someone who was dead?"

"Ambrose delivered it."

"Did it ever cross you mind that it wasn't the Queen who had written the note?"

"It may have crossed my mind but, honestly, it was in my better interest to believe the note was true."

"Mhmm. Let me get this straight. You broke out of jail on behalf of note that you weren't one hundred percent certain held true information."

"…Yes."

She nodded again and wrote another little note. "How would you describe this action from an outsiders point of view?"

"Intuitive?" I asked it as a question. Really, what did that have to do with anything?

Another bob of the head. "So, breaking out of jail was an act of self preservation along with the dutiful need to protect your moroi and make sure that your best friends' life is as it should be? Even though you knew you would become a wanted felon, risking your life?"

Wow, was she on my side or something? "Yes. Correct."

She smiled at me and nodded towards the Royals. One of the old guys stood up and looked at me. "We sentence you to the minimal punishment of paying a fee of two thousand eight hundred dollars. This is a mandatory fee seeing as you did, in fact, break out of jail as a criminal." Score? I wasn't sure how great it was to pay $2800… where did they even come up with those numbers?

"Just one more question before moving on: How did you break out?"

I froze. "Why does it matter?" I asked, not snottily though. Just cause I got a break for this issue, didn't mean I was for the next ones.

"It matters because it is a security issue. We can't have anyone else breaking out."

I shrugged, about to break my vow of truth. "I just, did it."

She raised her eyebrows sceptically. "So, you just woke up one morning, decided you'd had it with your cell and walked out? There were no obvious attempts at breaking the lock or force being applied."

Eff, eff, eff, eff, eff. "Kind of foggy how I did it. Adrenaline rush and everything."

She took a deep breath and wrote something else down. "Very well. Why did you attack Guardians on the occasions of breaking out of jail, in Baia and at your house hold a couple days ago?"

My turn to take a deep breath. Seriously, were they actual idiots? "To avoid capture… for all of them."

"So, it was not your intention to critically injure any of them or with any malicious intent?"

"No, I just wanted them to go away."

"And what about when the Queen was first murdered and the Royal Guard came to get you? Why did you and Mr. Belikov attack then?"

"'Cause they wouldn't tell me why I had to come. And I'm not known for coming easy." I heard a loud snicker from someone in the audience, probably Adrian, but ignored it.

"Isn't it your first instinct to trust the authority? To do as they say?"

Stupid question. "No. Just never worked with me. But I've been getting better…"

Nod. Person from the Royals stands up, says to verdict "Normal assault charges apply."

This was getting boring.

"One last time. Did you kill the Queen?"

"No-o-o."

"Very well. This is done. Guardian Hathaway, you must pay your fees by the end of this month or you shall serve jail time for not following your court appointed sentence. Good day." With that, it was over. All of it. I wanted to whoop with joy. I was even a Guardian again. I looked out over to Abe and Lissa and Adrian and Christian and smiled widely. Abe was looked slightly miffed. For what, I had no idea but he still came up with the others to hug me.

Even Sparky gave me a hug.

"What's got your face all twisted, pops?" I asked after letting him go.

"You weren't paying any attention to my head shakes. You know, you're supposed to stop talking so that me, your lawyer, can say what's suppose to be said to keep you out of jail."

"I think I did pretty good."

"Yes, yes you did. Very well, indeed, Guardian Hathaway. When I become Queen, I think I might just appoint you my head Guardian." I smiled at Lissa.

"So, you in the running yet? For becoming the next Queen Bitch?"

"Well, I hope so. I mean, I _can_, thanks to you. Have I said thank you yet?" Through the bond, I could tell how thankful she really was. And how frigging happy.

"Yes, like, fifty billion times already."

"Well, thanks again."

"Anytime, Liss. Anytime." As long as I get to be alone with Dimitri. Wait, "Where is my dear Comrade?"

**Is it longer? Satisfactory? Brilliant? **

**I meant to try and get it posted sooner but it didn't happen. In fact, I'm usually rushing to find time on the weekend to finish this. My social homework is suffering for you guys.**

**Well, the story should be coming to an end soon (funny how like, 15 chapters ago I said the same thing…) as long as nothing else insane and crazy happens :D**

**And sorry if I got the whole court thing wrong. My friend is borrowing my VA books so I couldn't check any references and well, I'm not educated in Moroi court, or human court for that matter.**

**Review dear readers… REVIEWWW**


	29. Where's Comrade?

**Hey, I'm back! Happy Thanksgiving (for those who celebrate)! I find this holiday very well placed to give us students another thing to be thankful for (with the whole 'no school' thing..)**

**Anywho, I didn't actually mean for the whole Missing Dimitri thing to be all mysterious, just felt he needed a placement… but in order to not disappoint, I'll warn you that Dimka's whereabouts are kind of disappointing… **

**With all the "Where's Comrade?"s I wanted to make a "Where's Waldo?" game for him. But I didn't. 'Cause I'm lazy….**

**Thanks for all the reviews and amazing support! You know, when I feel like I just posted a crappy chapter, I seem to get the best reviews… Is it just pity or are my crappy ones really the best, lol?**

**Disclaimer: VA belongs to R. Mead. The brilliance of this Last Sacrifice is to the credit of my brilliant brain. **

I stepped into the cool night air, the silence of the Moroi day enveloping me. Abe and Lissa arguing over who was going to pay my charges had started to give me a headache and I really wanted to see Dimitri. I jogged over to the jail, glad to be finally free of Guardians at my elbows and walked up to the Guardian keeping watch on the outside. "Hey, Guardian what's-your-face, you know if Dimitri Belikov is being held in here?"

He nodded. "You want to see him?"

I nodded back. "Very much so."

"I'd say you're supposed to bring a Guardian with you but…"

I flashed a man-eater smile, "I'm the best Guardian out there, I know."

He grinned. "Glad you got off easy on your charges. I knew you never killed the Queen and, to be honest, I was kind of relieved when you broke out."

"Thank you." I was being truthful. It really touched me to know that even Guardians at the Royal Court had been, and still were, on my side. "And no," I said to his hopeful expression, "I am not going to tell you all my secrets."

"But if you don't tell us, it proves a security risk!" he said, shocked. "What good is a jail if the criminals locked in it can escape? You didn't get in much trouble for breaking out so I doubt you'll get in trouble for the way you did it. Please," he gave me a puppy dog look, "we're all dying to know."

"No way! What if I need to break out again? What'll I do if you already know my secret?" I asked, jokingly.

He glared at my valid point, even if it was sort of unlawful, and opened the door for me. "So, you're planning to get thrown back in the slammer?"

I walked passed his and replied, "Can't rule anything out," and continued down the hall, calling out Dimitri's name. After going down a couple staircases and another extended whine of "Dimitriiiii," I heard a faint "Rose!" and immediately started running towards it.

I skidded to a halt in front of his cell. Already, he was standing, arms squeezed through the bars. We hugged, my cheek against the cool bar, trying to get as close to him as possible. "I thought your trial was right after mine?"

"Two hours after yours. I get to sit tight a bit longer," he murmured into my hair, his chin resting on top of my head. "How was yours? I'm guessing you're a free woman again, since you no longer have an escort?"

I smiled, looking up at him. Stubble covered his chin and cheeks but, honestly, it made him look extraordinarily sexy. I shrugged, "Just some charges equalling over three grand. No big. Abe and Lissa are arguing over who pays for them right now." He chuckled. "Other than that, I'm Guardian Badass Hathaway again."

He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "That's good. Brings up my hopes in getting off. I don't care much for these jail cells…"

"I totally agree. These bars make it awfully hard to do this," I gripped the hair on the back of his neck in my hand and pulled his face back to mine, bringing our lips together.

"I understand that this is a very heartfelt moment, but we need to escort Mr. Belikov to the court room." We quickly broke apart and turned to face the interrupter. So much for our Guardian skills…

The Interrupter was stone faced, dirty blonde and short for a Guardian but I could easily see his muscle beneath his uniform. Flanking him was two others, one a female, the other male. "Please step away, Guardian Hathaway. I believe it is time for you to assemble into the court room if you wish to watch the proceedings."

I nodded and gave Dimitri one last kiss on the cheek before making my way back out of the jail. I nodded my goodbye to Guardian what's-his-face at the entrance and raced back to where I had just been secretly freaking out in front of the Royal Court.

I'll just give you the long and short of Comrade's trial: He got _nothing._ _Nothing _I tell you. Well, an assault charge, yes but other than that, _nothing. _Apparently, it's fully legal to help an escapee if he was merrily doing his duty by following orders given by a Royal Moroi. Pfft. If that were true, I'd have gotten off with nothing too. I mean, Lissa told me to go find her sib, right?

Well, no, but she could have at least _pretended _to say it.

But no, I'm a totally different case.

I hate politics.

Finally, after all the trials, we were released into the real world. I had already created a list in my head, titled 'Free Rose's First Priorities After Achieving Freedom'. Yes, dumb title but it's in my head so no one can judge me. My first priority though, which was frolic through the woods with a certain Dhampir, rubbing it in everyone's face, was regrettably crossed off the list when Lissa came bounding towards Dimitri's and my pre-frolic stance and screeched "We _need _a girl's night!"

Now, I love Lissa and I know I haven't really seen her in the past forever and she's been worried sick about me the whole time but, dammit, I wanted to frolic with Dimitri. But, of course, I didn't. Instead, Dimitri kissed me on the cheek and, smiling happily at my outraged expression, shooed me off into the hands of my best friend.

As Lissa was dragging me down the hall, a thought popped into my mind, "Wait! I haven't even seen Eddie or Mia since I've come back."

"Oh, you'll have tons of time to see them. Right now we need to catch up and simply celebrate your return and freedom."

I groaned but inside I was slowly becoming more excited. I mean, the last girl day I'd had had been with Viktoria. "Yeah, and we have some things to talk about, such as why my entire wardrobe on my runaway had consisted of lingerie…"

XXX

"To hell with being a good role model to Jill. I know you won't stay celibate for more than a couple of hours. Sorry, Liss, but I just don't think you and Christian are capable of such a feat." I crunched down on another Dorito, watching, amused, as Lissa puffed up, ready to argue my statement.

"We are too! If it means showing my little sister that being sexually active isn't all it's cracked up to be, I will be celibate!" Apparently, Lissa had begun fearing that she and Christian's get-it-on-24/7 act might be affecting Jill's sudden curiosity in the world concerning sex. And the fact that Jill now had many guys, young and old, always hanging around her wasn't helping Lissa's poor little older sister conscience.

"But it has, hasn't it?" She threw a pillow at me.

I picked the now orange lip imprinted pillow off my face and rolled my eyes. "Relax, Lissa. I'm sure her sudden 'curiosity' has something to do with the fact that she's what, 14? 15? It's totally normal. And the guys? Well, she just sudden became Jill Dragomir. Any guy with a brain and eyes would want her. She's cute, smart and well, rich and royal. Not so sure about the rich part anymore though… How much of that have you blown since you became in charge of it?"

She ignored my last comment, instead letting her face relax, believing every word I said. "Sorry for throwing a pillow at you."

I smirked. "You seriously apologizing for that? It's_ your_ Doritoized pillow, not mine." I chucked it back at her but instead of her face, it hit the wall beside it. Hey, my backwards aim while lying down wasn't the most accurate.

She sighed, flopping down beside me at the foot of her bed. "I've missed you, Rose."

"I've missed you too, Lissa. Do you know how weird it is to long for the company of yourself?" If you have to ask, I know because Lissa doesn't know how to control her emotions for our bonds sake.

Lissa giggled. "Very weird, I imagine."

I smiled. "Very weird indeed."

"Did you check in often?"

I shrugged. "Often enough to make sure you were safe. As long as you were safe and not about to jump out of a window to your plummeting death, I worried about not getting shot."

"Yeah, that seems reasonable. While you were gone, it was one of those times that I really wished the bond worked both ways. I hated not knowing how you were, if you were alive. I mean, Adrian checked in for me but it just wasn't the same, you know?"

I nodded. "I know."

She rolled onto her side, hand holding up her head, a coy smile stretched across her face. "But I hear that being on the run wasn't as bad as you seem to make it. I bet it was my lingerie that did it."

I grinned and rolled my eyes. "Maybe. I got to wear one of his t-shirts because of it, if that counts for anything."

Lissa squealed. "Did he take it off of himself to give it to you?"

"Umm, no. He just pulled one out of his suitcase…"

Her face fell with disappointment. "Well, that's not as exciting but… at least you got to wear his shirt."

"Don't worry, Liss, a while later, as in a _long _while, I got to take his shirt off for him."

"Do I get to hear the juicy details?" she asked hopefully.

"Nope."

She groaned. "Please, Rose? You get to _see _the juicy details in my relationship."

"Which is why I'm saving you from such a life scarring situation." She pouted, giving me puppy eyes. "Shouldn't you be all grossed out that he used to be my mentor and Strigoi or something?"

"Why would I be disgusted if Dimitri obviously makes you happy? Did you not notice that I packed your entire suitcase with revealing clothing meant to lure him into your Rose charm?"

I let out a breath of relief that I hadn't known I'd been holding. I still hadn't been completely sure on Lissa's view of my relationship. But she did have a point… "Just like how I don't pound Sparky's face in everytime I see him 'cause I know you'd be upset?"

"Exactly." We laid in silence for a while longer until Lissa sat up and said, "I'm giving you a pedicure."

XXX

The next day, after spending the night being pampered and painted by Lissa, I was finally freed to walk around and search for Eddie. I was walking through the moonlit grass when I saw him leaning against a wall at the other side of the field, talking to Mia. "Yo!" I shouted, "Castile!" His head snapped towards his name and when he saw me, he grinned. Eddie pushed himself off the wall and walked over to me, Mia following. Once he was close enough, I asked, "How about some loving for your criminal friend?" and we hugged. Well, I tried to hug him since Eddie decided now was a good time to try and crush my ribs. "Woah," I said, after he finally released me. "I didn't think you were still angry at me. If I'd known you were going to try and kill me I would have thought twice about searching you out." I said this all with a smile on my face so he knew I was joking, though I did rub my ribs when he looked behind him and told Mia it was rude to not give me a hug. Mia just rolled her eyes and said that she was preparing to run for help if I started turning blue.

Mia and I embraced, unpainfully. "Nice to see you out of jail, Rose," she said.

"Nice to be out of jail. I don't recommend the life of a criminal."

Eddie snorted. "I'd have rather been running away from armed Guardians than hanging out here, dealing with the sixteen year old controversy."

Bah. I had completely forgotten about that. "And how's that going? Have they not realized how totally idiotic and stupid and selfish that is yet?" Anger had immediately filled me.

"'Parently not, but they will soon when they realize that their newly graduated Guardians are just dinner bells for the Strigoi. Don't get me wrong, they're good, just not good enough. We've already lost five of them but that's only making them shoot more of them out into the field. Once Lissa's queen though, I'm sure she'll strip that rule. But anyways," he quickly changed the subject seeing my dark expression, "At least they're letting Moroi who wish to learn offensive magic do so. There's going to be tons of new complicated laws around it but at least it's a step."

"Yeah. It's a step."

**Truthfully I was all "Yay, I should be able to wrap this up within a chapter or two" when I remembered that I hadn't even mentioned the whole 16 year old Guardian thing-y. And well, I have no idea where to go with it. But I'll think of something… hopefully. **

**Anyways, sorry for the boring ass court crap. When I was writing them I was tempted to bang my head against the wall 'cause I didn't know how to make them more interesting. So I just didn't do Dimitri's. Hope you guys don't mind **_**too **_**much :P**

**Also, I'm wondering if I should post this story on my deviantart account as well… what do you guys think?**

**Fish are friends not food and this Darla hasn't killed her brother's fish yet. Review to celebrate her act of proving Nemo wrong?**


	30. Fin

**Yay! Confusion over. **

**Here is your last and final chapter of Last Sacrifice by rawrful_lion aka Darla. **

**I'll put up a poll for which chapters you want in DPOV. I'll probably just do a couple though and I'm sure when those will get up, but they will, eventually.**

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter :D**

Becoming a free person after being falsely accused of murder? Brilliant.

Being harassed, attacked and totally annoyed by the non-believers of such a thing? Crappy.

Even after a month of being back, I was still getting asked things like 'How'd you get away with it?' and 'What did you blackmail Ambrose with that was so bad he killed himself over it?'. Now, I've been pretty good at ignoring this but when they jump you, screeching, 'Queen Tatiana shall be avenged!', well, you can understand why, because of a certain Russian God, I ended up, hanging in the air by my wrist two feet above the ground in the middle of the court yard more than once, resulting in a dislocated wrist.

"Shhhhht," I yelled, muffled, into the cloth between my teeth as the doctor hit my wrist back into place.

"I said it would hurt," was the only thing the doctor said back.

I opened my mouth, letting the cloth fall onto my lap. "Dimitri, you so owe me."

The guilty bastard only smiled as Dr. What's His Face pulled out some wrap and wound it around my wrist. Once he was done, I hopped off the table and grabbed Dimitri by the ear, having to reach up considerably to do so. In fact, he even tilted his head a little for me.

I had only dragged him around the corner when I let my tingling arm drop. "Not very stern, are we?" he asked jokingly.

"My arm was starting to fall asleep," I replied simply.

He chuckled. "Look, Rose, I am sorry about your wrist but really, you should know better."

"He jumped on my back! As I left the bathroom!" I exclaimed, exasperated.

"You could have disentangled him from your back and held him to the floor," he suggested, sounding all wise-like.

"While you what? Ran for help?" I snorted.

Dimitri sighed and we turned a corner that lead outside where all the restaurants and cute coffee shops were. "I have a pair of handcuffs…"

I raised my eyebrows, since I still didn't possess the ability to lift only one. "And where do you keep those?"

"Somewhere secret…" he said, a smile playing on his lips.

"Well, I've never found them down _there _so you might have to be a bit more specific on somewhere _secret_."

He rolled his eyes. "No need to get dirty, Rose. They're just in my shoe."

"That must be comfortable."

"Actually, they prove as a great arch support when wrapped properly in cloth…"

"Uh huh. I'll have a chocolate donut, please," I told that lady behind the counter of a coffee shop we had entered.

"'Course," she responded with a smile and brought out two, already knowing I'd come back for seconds. Dimitri got a tea, paid for both it and my donuts, and sat down at the table I had picked out.

"Lissa should be here soon." I took a bit of my donut, little brown crumbs falling onto my plate.

"Thought it was the whole gang coming?"

"Yeah, but saying Lissa was easier than saying Lissa, Christian, Adrian, Eddie, Mia and Jill should be here soon."

"Who said anything about soon? I'm here now," Adrian said happily as he plopped into the chair beside me and draped an arm around my shoulders. Dimitri glared but Adrian completely ignored him as the rest of the gang, who had sauntered in after him, dragged chairs around the table.

"Can I have one of those donuts?" Eddie asked. "Thanks," he said as he proceeded to attempt a snatching, only accomplishing in receiving an angry red mark across his hand.

"Take that as a no," Christian smirked beside Eddie.

"You're just happy to not be on the receiving end for once." Lissa said as she brought over a plate of donuts and gave me a stern look which I took as 'They're not all for you,".

But I ate all of Christian's share anyways.

"You find a girlfriend yet?" Jill piped up, looking up at Adrian adoringly from beside him.

"Not yet, dear Jailbait. I have found lilies and daises but haven't found myself another Rose." Adrian looked at me, sighing onto my face and filling my nostrils with a smell lacking cloves and alcohol. "Dimitri, no offence, but I liked it better when you were undead. Less competition."

"None taken. Though you should be aware that I'm no longer competition. I already won," Dimitri responded, taking a sip of his tea. Jill was looking off to the side, trying to gain control of her smiling face at having heard Adrian was still single. Of course, the fact that he still referred to her as Jailbait didn't help her chances of her becoming his next rose.

Eventually, Dimitri managed to knock Adrian's arm off my shoulders and replaced it with his. All was as it should be in our little group. Or as 'should be' as we could actually become.

Lissa had it in the bag for becoming Queen. Her and Christian's relationship was as great as ever, as was mine and Dimitri's. No one knew for certain, but we were suspicious of the amount of time Eddie and Mia spent together. If their combat classes were anything like mine and Dimitri's, we all knew what those would lead to. And someday, we all knew Adrian would give into Jill. Someday. Many years from now.

Life would never be normal for us, but could we ever ask for any less?

XXX

Back in our little room, I finally managed to beat Dimitri at an arm wrestling match. "Woohoo!" I exclaimed, dancing around the room. "The Russian God has been _beat _by Bad-Ass Hathaway!"

"You kicked me in the shin, Rose. I think you cheated," he said, rubbing his leg.

"Oh, don't be a poor sport, Comrade. I won fair and square and you know it."

"I know no such thing. In a game where violence isn't part of the rules, you lose once it is applied."

"Is this another 'Violence is not the answer' lecture? Because, if it is, you've already told me that one."

"Fine. You wanna play dirty? We'll play dirty." With that he picked up a pillow off the bed and hucked it at me. What was with pillow missiles lately?

I gave a girly shriek and ducked, quickly running to the bedside to collect my ammo. Dimitri, having bigger arms than me, scooped most of them up quickly. I stuffed a pillow up my shirt for safekeeping, making my stomach look like it was bulging out, and ran around the bed with a pillow in my hands. With a war yell, I hit Dimitri. He grabbed me by my pillow softened torso and pushed me down onto the bed, effectively cutting off my arms and giving him perfect access to pelt me in the face with a pillow. Which he did, but softly, since we all know you shouldn't hit people in the face with pillows, especially if you have to share a bed with them.

He looked down at my stomach and frowned. "Ms. Hathaway, I demand an explanation. Was I lying when I said I had already won?" he asked, jokingly.

"Nope," I said, ripping the pillow out from under my shirt, my arms having been freed. "It's removable."

"You sure?" he grinned, examining my flat stomach closely.

"Ummm, yeah. I just removed it didn't I?"

Dimitri's nose grazed my jaw. "Mmm, I guess you just did. But that's not what I meant."

One of my hands reached up, cupping his cheek. "If you want, I can prove it. Using your shoe arches."

He grinned widely. "I like how you think. First one there wins."

"Do you want another bruised shin?"

"Not particularly. But who's to say you'll manage to kick it before I get my shoes? I'll handcuff your feet together."

"Isn't that the opposite of your objective?"

And then arms and legs were everywhere as we tried to remember where Dimitri had kicked his shoes off.

**I know it's not much of an ending but I don't like 'And they all lived happily ever after' or writing cheesy epilogue summaries of the next twenty years, making their lives sound all boring.**

**If anyone read the chapter that I had written for this first before I deleted it you'd know I was attempting to make something out of the issue on the 16-year-old Guardians but now you'll all just have to make your own conclusion. And live in faith that Rose and Dimitri won't split or something. **

**Farewell, dear readers. Thank you all for your support and love.**

**Fin.**


	31. AN VOTE

Hey guys!

No, this is not a beautiful chapter in dear Dimkas POV, like I promised. The reason: Only 2 people have voted what chapters they want written Dx

So, get your butts in gear and click that blue button above that says 'rawrful_lion' and then 'Vote Now!' and pick the two chapters in which you wish to see what goes through Comrade's mind…

Voooooooooote and make Darla happy :D

Xoxo Darla


	32. DPOV Chapter 8

**Okay guys. I finally sat myself down and told myself that it didn't matter that I truly had no idea how to write what was going through Dimitri's mind. I had promised you guys two chapters and they should probably go up…. sometime. Which is now. And getting into a guys head is really hard. Just so you know. So I hope you appreciate how difficult this was :P **

**Enjoy my lovely story readers who give the most amazing reviews no matter how crappy and late my chapter ends up being **

**Disclaimer: Umm, Richelle Mead writes in RPOV. Not DPOV. So, obviously, I am not her. **

I was overwhelmed with a feeling of déjà vu. Rose and I were back to the basics trying to convince everyone, even the people I loved, I was alive and whole. All thanks to Rose. God, Rose. I looked over at her scarffing down all her sandwiches and didn't raise any protest when she started reaching for mine. She wanted them and so she would have them. I mean, giving her my sandwiches was the least I could give her after all the things I took from her. I remember how I took away that beautifully tanned skin when I made it pale from blood loss. The way the smooth silkiness of her neck was disrupted by my fangs marks. I took away that fierceness, the invulnerability her eyes held. Of course, those had all come back after a while. The way she ate those sandwiches so determinedly was proof of that. Wait, was I seriously describing her as she ate a sandwich? Damn, I probably took those away from her too. She was probably able to eat them all the time while staying with my family, and I pulled her away from that. I pulled her away from all her friends, her education, her high reputation. I made her weak. I loved her so much but knowing what I did to her killed me inside every time I looked at her.

I was pulled out of my dark, and slightly pitiful, thoughts when Yeva walked in. Right away, I noticed her eyes. They pierced my soul and I seriously considered getting into the fetal position on the floor with how much sadness and disappointment there was. All for me. When my grandma was disappointed in you, you knew you had done something majorly wrong. She knew what I did. She knew every horrible aspect of what I had done as a Strigoi. All the people I killed. All the ways I had hurt Rose. So many people said I couldn't be blamed for not having a soul but deep down I knew I was. And Yeva did too. That was the only reason she could possibly look at me so sadly. But still, I did my duty as a grandson and hugged her, though I didn't receive one back.

We converged to the living room and each time a member of my family entered, the feeling of it being a lifetime since I saw them faded. I was ready to fall back into that easy brother-sister relationship again like we always did after my long periods of absence but it was obvious that that wasn't happening this time. They all just kept staring at me, especially Viktoria who, as expected, had forgotten her stake in her room somewhere. This was probably fortunate since she seemed ready to attack me the moment she saw me, her Strigoi brother, sitting in her living room. Tension was thick in the air and though everyone made effort at small talk, I knew no one was comfortable. And I became extremely uncomfortable when Viktoria asked, "So, since you're back and all Dimitri, have you made it up to Rose yet?"

Why couldn't Viktoria just keep her curiosity to herself for once? From the way everyone was silent and expectant, I knew she had asked a question everyone had been dying to hear. The look on Rose's face told me she, too, was curious as to how I would break it too them that I couldn't care less for her. But I cared about her more than the world and I would never be able to make it up to her. Not in a million years, a million life times, would I ever be able to make my wrongs right. And so, I chose the chicken answer. "What do you mean?"

"You know, for dying and totally breaking her heart. I practically felt my own heart break when she told us about you guys." Wait, what? I never really saw Rose as the tell about her heart shattering, forbidden love… especially to my family-type "Such love. It's horrible to have that be taken away from you." I held back a flinch. Another thing I'd taken from my Roza.

Everyone else was obviously agreeing with Viktoria on this. Grandma looked at me and I reconsidered the reason for her disappointment in me. I couldn't tell them why I was breaking her heart on purpose. Rose had to move on. I had to get her to see that. But this was not the way I was planning to help it along. _Think fast, Dimitri. Make this to your advantage._ I coughed awkwardly, coming up with nothing. "Uh.. well…-"

I was cut off by a very pissed looking Rose. "The thing with Dimitri? Well, his loves fades." Ouch. Looking at her face now, my resolve almost died. She was so hurt, so ripped apart by my refusal to accept what had happened in the past and love her for all she did for me. My heart was breaking again, knowing my words in the church had been imprinted into her mind.

My whole family sat in a shocked silence, unable to process what they believed to be true love broken. I loved everything, no matter what, and they knew that. They knew that I wouldn't give up on something so pure. They knew what Rose and I had had because I never would have let Rose develop such feeling if I didn't return them. They knew I was lying but couldn't understand why.

"But- but, you guys were so… so _in love._ How could you give up on such a wonderful girl that obviously loves you back whole-heartedly? Which she proved by saving you," my mom said, sounding as broken hearted I was over this. But she had to stop. I would _not _let anyone foil my plans for Rose. She needed what was best for her and I was not that. This needed to end right now before Rose's hopes got too high again. I had already driven home the stake in her heart, figuratively, and I really didn't want to do it again.

I closed my heart off for a second and called on a bit of my Strigoi anger, directing it at my family. "You don't know _anything _about mine and Roza's relationship", Rose hissed as she noticed my slip up but I ignored it, "so stop assuming stupid things. I may have once loved her but I. Have. Moved. On. And the sooner she does, the better." I couldn't stand the looks on their face so I did what I was becoming really good at and left the house, deciding on taking a nice, long walk and wonder how I managed to get myself into this situation.

I ripped down the street sprinting far away from Rose and my family. So much for all that control that I was supposed to have. If I was truly the 'God' everyone, or well, Rose, called me, then shouldn't I just be able to sit there, blanked faced, and bullshit my way through that situation? Me running away completely condemned me. It made me an open book. But no, all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around Rose and beg forgiveness, knowing I could never truly have it, no matter how many times she said she did. No one could forgive me for the things I had done. No one.

After running around the entire community a couple times and I was feeling some of my crazy emotions subside, I leaned against a tree, breathing hard. It was stupid of me to burn myself out like this. But practically every Dhampir here was trained and home on break so it was a bit safer. I closed my eyes, sliding down the trunk and sitting on my butt. I focused on my breathing, taking deeper breathes to slow it down and found my mind spinning elsewhere. To Rose. Always to Rose. Except, this time, I was filled with peace as I remembered the way she looked so fierce in training. The subtle touches we shared, the quick glances. The brief kisses. Things were still complicated back then but much less than now. Oh, how I wanted to go back there, were Rose was still safe. I sighed, recalling exactly how her warm lips felt on mine, how here touch sent shivers up my spine. How soft her tongue was. I let out a soft moan, embarrassed yet impressed by how accurate and real my imagination felt. I smiled, holding on to that image, that feeling, Wishing I could truly feel it again. Wishing I was more selfish for once. And so, in my mind, I took it further. Deeper into things that could and would never happen again.

**Okay, so not very long after such a loooong disappearance. Buuut it's better than nothing, right? I hope I got the whole angsty 24 year old in love with the girl he wont let himself be with. I'll try and get chapter 24 in DPOV up soon :P**

**Also, shout out to Lola, who reallllly needs to get an account so I can respond to her reviews. Cause your email didn't actually show up in the review that you gave me.**

**So, forget your hate at my late update and give some love that I did update by reviewing!**


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